Iran fired at least two missiles at commercial ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported late Monday night, citing a US official.
According to the report, both ships were damaged significantly, but there were no casualties.
Shortly before the report, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) stated that a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile while traveling about eight nautical miles (14.8 km) east of Oman’s Limah, causing a fire.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned ships in recent days to remain on Iranian-designated routes rather than the US-designated route near the coast of Oman.
“Our missiles and drones are ready to fire at you,” the IRGC told ships over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported.
One of the ships may be a Qatari gas tanker
One of the ships appeared to be Al Rekayyat, a Qatari gas tanker.
Early on Tuesday, a crew member on a ship near Al Rekayyat heard a message from the ship stating that it had been hit on the port side, at the top of the engine room, according to a recording shared with the WSJ.
“Engine room fire and full of smoke. Unable to assess further damage. All crew are safe and mustered on the starboard side,” the WSJ cited the recording as saying.
Reuters contributed to this report.
