A fire broke out in the engine room of a tanker off the coast of Oman, with two people missing and one casualty, the UK's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Wednesday.
The crew is being evacuated, it said. It is unclear if the casualty referred to a fatality or an injury.
The US military later stated that it had attacked a tanker in the Gulf of Oman which was allegedly attempting to transport Iranian oil. The engine room of the Settebello vessel, which was sailing under the Palau flag, was fired upon after the crew defied instructions, the US CENTCOM command responsible for the region wrote on X.
Just a few days earlier, the US military said it attacked a tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was heading for an Iranian port. The unladen oil tanker had violated the US blockade of Iranian ports, the relevant US regional command CENTCOM said.
The United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in response to Iran's effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Since mid-April, eight ships have now been rendered unable to manoeuvre, according to US figures.
