Fatal Attack Near Iraq: Two Oil Tankers Engulfed in Flames
Two oil tankers have been attacked near Iraq, with at least one crew member reported dead.
According to detikNews on Thursday, 12 March 2026, Farhan Al-Fartousi from the General Company of Iraqi Ports told Iraqi state television that one crew member was killed and 38 people were rescued. Meanwhile, “search operations continue to locate those missing”.
Fartousi did not specify the nationalities of the crew members or details about those behind the attack. Citing Al Arabiya and AFP, Iranian government media told the Iraqi national news agency INA that “two oil tankers became targets of sabotage”.
The Iraqi Ministry of Oil expressed “deep concern” over the incident involving oil tankers in the Gulf without providing further details.
“The safety of navigation in international maritime corridors and energy supply routes must remain free from regional conflict,” the ministry added in its official statement today.
The Strait of Hormuz – a waterway that carries one-fifth of global oil – remains closed to nearly all oil tankers, and Iran has vowed that not a single litre of oil will be exported from the Gulf as long as war with the United States and Israel continues.
US President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday, 11 March, that American forces have attacked 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels, more than a week after Middle Eastern conflict began.
Meanwhile, an employee at the Basra oil terminal in Iraq told AFP that it remained unclear “whether it was a drone attack or a ship loaded with explosives”.
The Iraqi National Organisation for Oil Marketing (SOMO) stated that two oil tankers were attacked without detailing how the attack occurred.
SOMO identified the Maltese-flagged oil tanker ZEFYROS as being attacked whilst preparing to enter the Khor Al-Zoubair port, where it was to load an additional 30,000 tonnes of liquid naphtha used in the petrochemical industry.
The second vessel targeted, SAFESEA VISHNU, was sailing under the Marshall Islands flag and was chartered by an Iraqi company, according to SOMO.
The incident occurred only hours after the United States Embassy in Baghdad warned that Iran and Tehran-backed Iraqi armed groups may target US-owned oil facilities in Iraq.