Kuwaiti Oil Tanker Al-Salmi Struck Near Dubai, Catches Fire and Risks Spill

A giant Kuwaiti crude tanker fully loaded with oil erupted in flames at Dubai port Tuesday after what Kuwait Petroleum Corporation called a direct Iranian attack, with hull damage raising fears of an oil spill in UAE coastal waters and crude futures jumping more than $3 a barrel on the news.

Kuwait's state news agency KUNA quoted Kuwait Petroleum Corporation saying the Al-Salmi was struck in "a direct and malicious Iranian attack while in the anchorage area of Dubai Port in the UAE." KPC said the vessel was fully loaded at the time of the strike and warned that the resulting hull damage could lead to an oil spill in surrounding waters. Maritime tracking service TankerTrackers reported the Al-Salmi carried approximately 1.2 million barrels of Saudi crude and 800,000 barrels of Kuwaiti crude when it was hit, putting the combined cargo at roughly two million barrels.

The Dubai Media Office confirmed the vessel was struck by a drone and caught fire. Emergency responders brought the blaze under control, Dubai authorities said, and all 24 crew members aboard were reported safe and accounted for. An assessment of the hull damage was under way.

News of the strike drove US crude futures up more than $3, or 2.9 percent, to $105.91 a barrel.

The attack came a day after President Trump renewed threats against Iranian infrastructure, warning that without a deal he would order strikes on Iranian targets. Trump had threatened to "obliterate" Kharg Island and other energy facilities if negotiations to end the conflict failed, and the White House warned Tehran that the United States possessed capabilities beyond Iran's "wildest imagination" if peace talks collapsed. Trump posted on Truth Social that Washington was holding "serious discussions" with Tehran on a resolution, though Iranian officials denied that any direct talks were taking place. Thousands of US troops have reportedly begun arriving in the region as tensions mounted around Kharg Island, which the Independent reported handles roughly 90 percent of Iran's oil exports.

Iran had not publicly commented on the Al-Salmi strike at the time of initial reporting. The attack attribution rests with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which issued the "direct and malicious Iranian attack" characterization through KUNA.

The incident is part of an accelerating campaign of attacks on commercial shipping across the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz using missiles and explosive aerial and maritime drones, a pattern that intensified after US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. In a related incident reported the same day, two unidentified projectiles landed in the water about 22 nautical miles northeast of Ras Tanura, near the Liberia-flagged container ship Express Rome, with all crew reported safe. British maritime risk-management firm Vanguard said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously claimed responsibility for a separate attack on the Express Rome on March 11.

With the Al-Salmi's hull breached and its cargo intact at the time of the strike, KPC's oil-spill warning carries considerable weight. A release of that volume into Dubai's coastal waters would represent one of the most severe environmental incidents the Gulf has seen in years, and it arrives at a moment when the waterway's commercial shipping lanes are already under sustained attack.