A crew member on the oil tanker Velos Sapphire has died after an unidentified projectile struck the vessel in the Persian Gulf, its owner said.
Greek shipping company Velos Tankers announced the death on Friday, confirming that the attack took place on Thursday while the ship was travelling without cargo towards the port of Sitra in Bahrain.
The impact triggered a fire aboard the tanker, which sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands, but the crew managed to put out the blaze. The owner did not release the nationality of the dead crew member and reported that no other casualties occurred, according to a company statement published by the Greek news agency ANA.
The tanker was sailing in ballast, meaning it carried no cargo in its storage tanks as it moved towards Sitra, a primary oil refining and export terminal on the eastern coast of Bahrain. Commercial merchant vessels in the region frequently operate under open registries such as the Marshall Islands, while operational oversight remains based in Greece, home to the largest commercial shipping fleet in the world.
Strait of Hormuz tanker attacks
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported on Friday morning that oil tankers had caught fire after striking naval mines in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The announcement followed claims made on Thursday by the Iranian armed forces that five tankers and a tugboat had experienced similar mine incidents in the contested channel between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
In a statement broadcast on state television on Friday, the Revolutionary Guard said two tankers in an irregular situation had caught fire after detonating mines. Iranian military officials alleged that one tanker was east of the strait and the second was inside the waterway itself, claiming both were attempting to traverse an unauthorised route with operational support from the United States military.
Iranian authorities also stated that both commercial ships had deactivated their automatic navigation systems before encountering the mines. Maritime security agencies have not confirmed the new allegations from Tehran, which have grown more frequent in recent weeks despite claims from Washington that American forces have cleared the majority of naval mines from the shipping route.
Regional maritime security alerts
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British maritime security agency that provides information to merchant shipping, reported that an explosion hit a commercial vessel off the coast of Oman on Thursday. The agency confirmed that the blast caused no casualties and left the ship without serious damage.
The incident follows warnings issued in mid-October by maritime security intelligence firm Vanguard, the International Maritime Organization and the UKMTO, whose data indicated a significant rise in attacks on vessels across the region.
Commercial shipping operators in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea have maintained heightened readiness following those warnings, monitoring traffic along maritime routes where commercial vessels often navigate close to Iranian and Omani waters.
Conflict over the strategic waterway
Tehran claims sovereign control over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping corridor through which one fifth of the world's petroleum supply transited prior to the war triggered in late February by American and Israeli strikes against Iranian targets.
Iranian forces regularly target merchant ships that navigate the corridor without Iranian authorization, particularly vessels sailing along the Omani coast. In response to the disruption of commercial traffic, Washington has enforced a naval blockade on Iranian ports and deployed military escorts alongside commercial tankers navigating the waterway.
The ongoing maritime confrontation comes as diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Iran remain stalled, leaving commercial shipping lanes in the Gulf caught between persistent projectile strikes and unconfirmed naval mine hazards.
