ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency on Wednesday reported another incident involving a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, less than a day after a separate tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile off Oman, amid escalating attacks on commercial shipping in the strategic waterway.
In its Warning 202-26, UKMTO, the British military agency that monitors shipping and issues alerts, classified the latest report as “Suspicious Activity.” It said the status of the crew, damage assessment and environmental impact were unknown at the time of reporting.
The alert followed a separate incident on Tuesday, when the master of a tanker reported being struck by an unknown projectile 19 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman.
UKMTO said the crew were safe and no environmental impact had been reported. “Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO, whilst authorities investigate,” the maritime monitoring agency said in its warning.
The agency did not identify either the vessels or the party responsible for the incidents.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Tuesday that a third oil tanker had exploded after striking a naval mine while attempting to cross what it described as an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz.
“As a result of their attempts to navigate dangerous and unauthorized routes, these tankers are striking naval mines,” the IRGC Navy's public relations office said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
The alerts come amid an increase in the number of reported attacks on commercial shipping in and around the strategic waterway.
Noam Raydan, a William Sudhaus Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a post on X that at least seven attacks had been reported and confirmed in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waterways so far in November.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) said 133 maritime incidents had been confirmed in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East region as of November 10, with 25 seafarers killed.
IMO's incident list includes the tanker GRIT, which was damaged 14 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman, on November 3.
Raydan said GRIT had loaded Iraqi Basra crude in late October.
She also said available data indicated that another tanker, which she identified as VIEIRA (IMO 9234654), had loaded Basrah crude the previous month. The IMO identifies the vessel under the same identification number as VIEILA.
Separately, ADNOC Logistics & Services said one of its vessels was damaged in an attack in UAE territorial waters in the Arabian Gulf on Tuesday afternoon.
“Response efforts by the relevant teams are ongoing,” the company said, adding that it would provide further updates as information became available. It did not identify the vessel or those responsible.
Control over the strategic waterway remains contested, with a US maritime blockade in effect to prevent Iranian oil exports. Both Iran and the US regularly tout control over Hormuz, and disagreement over it have complicated efforts for a lasting agreement between the two countries.
