Oman Denies Navigation Aids in Didamar Were Targeted Amid Iranian Claim
Key Facts
A senior Omani official denied that navigation aids on Didamar Island had been targeted, after a report published by The Maritime Executive on November 10 cited a claim by Iran’s Fars News Agency that navigation aids on the “southern reefs” had been hit. Satellite imagery taken that morning showed no clear damage to the lighthouse or the island’s communications and radar towers. The targeting account remains attributed to the Iranian agency, while the Omani official told the publication the aids had not been targeted. The discrepancy places the Strait of Hormuz monitoring center and Omani navigation facilities at the heart of two conflicting accounts of an incident near one of the main shipping lanes. The report did not establish that those facilities were damaged.
Fars News Agency said, according to the report, that navigation aids on the “southern reefs” were targeted because they facilitate the passage through the strait of vessels the Iranian source described as unauthorized. The report provided no independent confirmation of the claim and did not attribute confirmation of a strike on Didamar to a reliable source. By contrast, it quoted a senior Omani official as saying the island’s navigation aids had not been targeted. Satellite imagery reviewed by the report supports that denial insofar as it showed no clear damage to the visible facilities. But the absence of visible damage in the images does not establish the source of the circulating footage or what happened at other locations.
The report cited circulating footage showing smoke in the direction of the island, but said the source of the smoke was unclear. It could not be determined whether the smoke came from the island itself or from a damaged tanker behind it, on its sheltered side. The footage therefore does not, according to the report’s description, establish that the navigation facilities were targeted. The Omani official’s account, as quoted, is limited to saying those aids were not targeted, while the report offers no definitive explanation for the smoke. The nature of the incident and its source therefore remain unclear.
Didamar is part of an Omani archipelago 10 nautical miles north of the tip of the Musandam Peninsula, halfway between the Omani mainland and the median line in the Strait of Hormuz with Iran. In peacetime, the island hosts the Strait of Hormuz monitoring center operated by the Royal Navy of Oman. The center organizes maritime traffic through parts of the traffic separation scheme that lie in Omani territorial waters. The island also has a radio communications tower, a lighthouse and a marine radar mounted on a 25-meter tower. Arabian Maritime and Navigation Aids Services maintains these aids, which serve vessels transiting the strait.
The report placed the claim about Didamar in the context of other maritime incidents reported on Tuesday, November 10, without establishing that they were linked. UKMTO said a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile northeast of Lima in Oman and that its crew was safe, without identifying who was responsible. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said 3 ships had been hit by naval mines and caught fire while taking a route it described as unauthorized; The Associated Press said it had not independently verified the claim. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company also said one of its vessels had been attacked in UAE territorial waters in the Gulf, without identifying the vessel or the party responsible. The agency said it was not immediately clear whether the reported incidents were connected.
Earlier data reflect the scale of the risks facing shipping in the region during the conflict, but do not establish a direct link to the Didamar claim. A Reuters report citing data from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said 37 ships were attacked in October, the highest monthly total since the war began. The International Maritime Organization also said it had confirmed 130 incidents in the region since the conflict began in late February, most of them attacks, with at least 25 seafarers killed. Meanwhile, crude prices fell to a two-month low on Tuesday after U.S. officials played down the need for further military action against Iran. The report did not identify any effect from the alleged Didamar incident on ship traffic or oil flows.
In separate maritime coverage, Reuters said videos posted on social media on Sunday and verified by the agency showed the Singapore-flagged oil products tanker Navig8 Messi on fire near the Omani coast. An image from the Sentinel-2 satellite showed a plume of black smoke at the same location. Those images concern the tanker and do not establish the source of the smoke in the circulating footage in the direction of Didamar. The report also does not link the tanker fire to Iran’s claim about the navigation aids. Oman said it respects the right of innocent passage through its waters and neither facilitates nor obstructs that passage.