Projectile Attack on Tanker Leaves Casualties North of Qatar

A tanker was struck by multiple projectiles 51 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, with casualties among the crew. The UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) Operations Centre confirmed the attack, which occurred at around 19:00 UTC on Wednesday, although it did not specify the number or severity of the casualties.

Maritime security firm Vanguard Tech identified the vessel as the oil tanker Acers, flagged in Antigua and Barbuda, which was sailing from the port of Sohar, Oman, at the time of the attack. According to Vanguard, it is an oil and chemical tanker (IMO 9301902). The Acers was built in 2006, measures 183 meters in length and 32.2 meters in beam, and has a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 51,371 tonnes.

The incident marks a geographic expansion of the Iranian threat to commercial shipping, which until now had been concentrated in the Strait of Hormuz. Sea Trade Maritime reported that at least 12 tankers have been attacked in Hormuz since September 29, while Splash 247 indicated that at least a dozen tankers and gas carriers were targeted in the area between September 28 and October 5. According to Splash 247, this is the first reported attack outside the strait during the current escalation, raising the risk that a wider area of the Gulf could become a theater of maritime combat, threatening vessels serving oil and gas terminals in Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.

Splash 247 also reported another possible attack: the VLCC Dhalkut, flagged in the Marshall Islands, operated by Asyad and chartered by Trafigura, reported a fire approximately 22 nautical miles east of Fujairah. Separately, the 2,400 TEU container ship CUL Klang, operated by China's CU Lines, was attacked by armed boats near the coast of Mocha, Yemen, while transiting northward through the southern Red Sea; its crew was unharmed.

Sea Trade Maritime recalled that the most recent attacks outside the Strait of Hormuz had occurred on September 9, when the bunker tanker Hercules Star was attacked while at anchor off the United Arab Emirates, leaving two crew members dead, and the VLCC New Andros was struck 28 nautical miles southeast of Al-Faw, Iraq. The outlet also noted that the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) keeps the security threat level at "severe" for the Strait of Hormuz, two levels above the "moderate" level assigned to the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.