On Friday, Oman announced that it had saved 25 sailors from an assault on a merchant ship that had been set on fire. Meanwhile, Iran declared that three oil tankers were stopped in the Strait of Hormuz. Ever since the Middle East conflict broke out on February 28 with US-Israeli bombings on the Islamic republic, Tehran has limited marine trade across the strait.
Ships passing through the small channel, which typically transports around 20% of the world’s oil, are frequently targeted by Iranian artillery. The commercial ship RITI, which was flying the Panamanian flag, was targeted and subsequently set ablaze, prompting the Muscat navy to “carry out an evacuation operation for 25 crew members,” according to a statement from Oman’s Maritime Security Center.
According to the statement, the crew members received medical treatment, but no specifics were provided. The RITI was identified as a crude oil tanker by the ship-tracking website of Marine Traffic. The US military successfully cleared the strait’s internationally recognized primary transit routes of Iranian sea mines,” US Central Command chief Brad Cooper announced in a video published on Friday. The US military is “present to ensure that all primary transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz remain free and clear,” he added.
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