Iran’s Sepah News reported Friday that an oil tanker is sinking in the Strait of Hormuz after being targeted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as images surfaced showing a vessel going down in the waterway for alleged traffic violations. Separately, maritime risk firm Vanguard identified the outbound supertanker struck by a waterline explosion 16 nautical miles east of Khasab, Oman, at 22:00 UTC Thursday as the Vieira (IMO 9234654), a Very Large Crude Carrier with a history of trading Venezuelan oil that loaded Iraqi Basrah crude in October.
According to a delayed warning from the UK Maritime Trade Operations center, the Vieira’s master reported the port side blast, though all crew members were accounted for and the vessel continued its voyage under its own power. The Thursday night strike followed the first UKMTO reported limpet mine attack on a commercial ship in the region since 2019, when a small boat attached two explosive devices to a tanker’s hull 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab on Oct 29, as well as a Nov 3 attack on the Chinese owned supertanker Grit (IMO 9243150), which had also loaded crude in Basrah in late October.
