At least one crew member was killed Thursday when an apparent Iranian attack set two oil tankers ablaze in Iraqi waters, escalating a campaign aimed at disrupting Middle East energy supplies after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Farhan al-Fartousi, from Iraq's General Company for Ports, told state television that one crew member had been killed and 38 rescued while the "search continues for the missing."
Images, verified by Reuters as having been filmed from the shore of the port of Basra, showed the ships engulfed in massive orange fireballs that lit up the night sky. The attack occurred roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the coast.
Iraqi authorities said the vessels had been attacked overnight by Iranian boats laden with explosives. At least one crew member was killed.
Hours earlier, three other ships had been struck in the Gulf. Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for at least one of those attacks, on a Thai bulk carrier that was set ablaze, which the Guards said had disobeyed their orders.
Another container vessel reported being struck by an unknown projectile near the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, a maritime security authority said.
India's embassy in Iraq said Thursday an Indian national had died in the attack, with 15 other Indian crew members evacuated.
The Iraqi government's media cell told the national news agency INA that "two tankers were subject to sabotage."
Iraq's oil ministry said Thursday it had "deep concern" about incidents involving oil tankers in the Gulf.
"The safety of navigation in international maritime corridors and energy supply routes must remain free from regional conflicts," the ministry added.
The Strait of Hormuz, the waterway carrying a fifth of the world's oil, remains closed to almost all oil tankers and Iran has vowed that not 1 liter of oil would be exported from the Gulf while its war with the United States and Israel continues.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that US forces have struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels more than a week into the Middle East war.
Iraqi state television channel al-Ikhbariya broadcast images of a ship at sea with plumes of smoke rising from a huge fire.
The Iraqi State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) confirmed in a statement that two oil tankers were attacked, without providing details on how.
Maltese-flagged oil tanker ZEFYROS was attacked as it was preparing to enter the port of Khor al-Zoubair, where it would have taken on board an additional 30,000 tons of liquid naphtha – primarily used in petrochemicals, SOMO said.
The second targeted vessel, SAFESEA VISHNU, was sailing under the Marshall Islands flag and was chartered by an Iraqi company, according to SOMO.
The incidents come just hours after the U.S. embassy in Baghdad warned that Iran and Tehran-backed Iraqi armed groups might target U.S.-owned oil facilities in Iraq.
