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The head of Kuwait's national shipping company has condemned the Iranian regime for a strike on a massive oil tanker off the coast of the UAE that sparked a blaze.
Sheikh Khaled Al Sabah, acting chief executive of Kuwait Oil Tanker Company, said there was damage to the hull of the vessel, Al Salmi, but the 24 crew were safe. He condemned Tehran for the "inhumane act of aggression", Kuwaiti media reported.
Sheikh Khaled stressed the need to identify safer routes and secure areas for oil tankers. The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation released an image of a hole in the vessel, which was estimated to be carrying two million barrels of Saudi and Kuwaiti crude, above the water line. The company said earlier that it was possible oil had leaked, but that now appears unlikely.
Al Salmi, which the company said was "fully laden", was struck in the early hours of Tuesday. Dubai authorities launched maritime firefighters to the vessel and successfully extinguished the blaze. A live map from MarineTraffic showed the vessel was some distance off the coast. The Dubai government said it was in its territorial waters.
Kuwait News Agency earlier reported that the tanker was subjected to a “direct, heinous Iranian attack”.
“Dubai authorities have confirmed that response teams have successfully extinguished the fire involving a Kuwaiti oil tanker,” Dubai Government Media Office said, following a string of updates overnight. “No injuries have been reported and the safety of all 24 crew members has been secured."
The UK Maritime Trade Operations organisation, which has a base in Dubai, said a security officer onboard the tanker “reported an unknown projectile had struck their tanker on the starboard side, causing a fire to the vessel".
The strike is another sign of escalation in the Iran war and came hours after US President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iranian energy and desalination infrastructure unless a deal is reached soon.
Al Salmi, which is 332 metres in length, was carrying about 1.2 million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia and 800,000 from Kuwait, the Tanker Trackers website reported. The vessel was loaded more than one month ago, suggesting it had been stuck in the Gulf, as with many hundreds of vessels, owing to Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
On Monday, the UKMTO said it had received 24 reports of incidents from vessels since the conflict began, including direct hits and near-misses. The war has upended global markets and the strait remains effectively closed, paralysing energy shipping.
