Tanker burns in Strait of Hormuz after projectile strike near Oman

A tanker caught fire after a projectile struck its port side about 8 nautical miles east of Limah, Oman, in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the wider Arabian Sea. The vessel was traveling southbound out of the strait toward the Gulf of Oman when the impact set off the blaze. No casualties or environmental damage were identified.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said the ship was hit early Tuesday morning and that the incident remains under investigation. Iranian state television suggested, without formally claiming responsibility, that the tanker had ignored warnings and may have been carrying natural gas from Qatar and using a route Tehran considers unauthorized.

The Strait of Hormuz links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the wider Arabian Sea. About 20 million barrels of crude passed through it each day in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Any disruption there can quickly ripple into oil prices, shipping insurance, freight rates and consumer inflation far beyond the Gulf.

United Nations officials said three Indian seafarers were killed in a Hormuz-area strike on June 11, 2026, and that the International Maritime Organization had verified 46 attacks on international shipping in and around the strait since the crisis began on Feb. 28. The same tally put the number of confirmed seafarer deaths at 14.

The IMO temporarily paused a vessel evacuation effort after an earlier strike in the Gulf of Oman. Britain’s maritime security agency told ships to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.