Tankers face rising attack risk as Iran warns against unauthorised oil routes

Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar. Tankers face a heightened risk of attacks and intimidation while carrying critical shipments through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran warned it would block routes it had not authorised, sources said. In the latest reported incident, multiple projectiles hit a chemical tanker north of Madinat ash Shamal, causing minor injuries to its crew.

Iran warns against new export routes

Iran has warned regional countries that any attempt to open new routes for oil exports would be considered hostile, a senior regional official close to Tehran told Reuters. The official said the warning was part of a plan agreed by Iran’s political leaders and its Revolutionary Guards.

A senior regional diplomat briefed by Tehran separately told Reuters that Iran had no intention of relinquishing control of the Strait of Hormuz and had prepared plans to block routes used by some regional countries to export oil.

“This could involve missile and drone attacks on ships, or sending boats to scare ships away,” the diplomat said. “It plans to continue this policy of fear and threats.”

Attacks rise as vessel traffic falls

Last week saw the highest number of tanker attacks in the key waterway since the Iran war began, reducing the number of vessels attempting to pass through to its lowest level in more than two months.

In recent months, Gulf oil producers have rushed oil shipments through channels close to the Omani side of the strait before transferring the oil in open waters in the Gulf of Oman, with aerial support from the US, sources told Reuters.

Tanker struck off Qatar

British navy agency UKMTO reported that projectiles struck a tanker about 51 nautical miles off Qatar’s coast inside the Gulf in the latest incident over the past 24 hours.

Maritime security sources identified the vessel as the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged chemical tanker Acers. They said it had been hit by multiple projectiles north of Madinat ash Shamal and that crew members sustained minor injuries.

“The Acers strike raises the prospect of a wider combat area affecting approaches to Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq,” Clearwater Dynamics, a subsidiary of maritime risk intelligence group Pole Star Global, said in a report on Thursday.