Hormuz: Iran's Revolutionary Guards claim strike on gas tanker, threaten shipowners
The Guards said the vessel “NV Sunshine” used an “illegal route”. Ships on such routes would be “pursued throughout the region”, and shipping firms face penalties.
Symbolic image · Photo: Ilkka Simomaa / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards say they attacked a large liquefied gas carrier on Friday south of the Strait of Hormuz. The ship, named “NV Sunshine”, was on an “illegal route” and suffered a massive fire in its engine room, according to a statement carried by the Tasnim agency. Britain's maritime agency UKMTO reported an incident about 13 nautical miles west of Al Jazeera in the United Arab Emirates. A vessel was hit by an unknown projectile and the fire has since been put out.
UKMTO said it was initially unclear whether this was the same tanker; nothing was known about the crew or the extent of the damage. The Guards warned that vessels using unauthorised passages would be “pursued throughout the region”. Companies that, in Iran's account, were deceived by the US are to face sanctions. The Guards blamed the US military for the escalation.
The attack is the latest in a series of strikes on shipping in the strait, which is vital for global energy supplies. At the same time, the war in Yemen is escalating: Yemen's government said its forces carried out more than 2,750 strikes on the Houthis within 24 hours and “neutralised” over 1,400 fighters. These figures cannot be independently verified.