Summary

Saudi Arabia has condemned an Iranian attack on an oil tanker owned by its national shipping company that resulted in the deaths of two citizens of the Philippines. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said Iran targeted the Sidr tanker, owned by national carrier Bahri, while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz two days earlier. “The kingdom stressed the necessity of halting escalations, and respecting international maritime safety and the security of global energy supplies,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement. Saudi Arabia’s regional neighbours also condemned the attack, one of several recent incidents in the US-Israeli war with Iran launched on February 28. Kuwait and Qatar’s foreign ministries said the attack violated international law and freedom of maritime navigation. Qatar called the attack a “flagrant violation of the rules of international law and freedom of maritime navigation”. Doha further rejected the use of the Strait of Hormuz as a “bargaining chip”. Bahri, meanwhile, also confirmed the death on social media. “Bahri confirms that its vessel SIDR was involved in a security incident while transiting the Strait of Hormuz” late on Monday, it said. “Bahri remains in continuous contact with the vessel and is coordinating closely with the relevant authorities and maritime industry stakeholders, while continuing to closely monitor developments,” it said. Iran has repeatedly attacked and threatened tankers attempting to sail through the strategic waterway without authorisation, impeding energy exports from neighbouring oil-rich Gulf countries. The US has maintained that vessels can safely transit the waterway, through which traffic has slowed considerably.  Washington has promised to continue its counter-blockade of Iranian ports indefinitely. Overnight Monday into Tuesday, unidentified projectiles struck two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Greek maritime risk management firm Marisks had said. Both vessels loaded two million barrels of crude at Juaymah on Saudi Arabia’s east coast last week, according to Kpler data. On Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said two oil tankers caught fire after striking mines while transiting the strait. Before the US-Israel war with Iran began, about 20 percent of the world’s oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz. In July, another Bahri vessel, the Wedyan supertanker, was hit while passing through the strait close to Oman’s coast. Two other Bahri vessels, Masa and Amzan, were attacked in the Red Sea in July and August after Yemen’s Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia.