Two Oil Tankers Attacked Off Iraq, One Crew Member Killed
The Middle East continues to escalate. An attack on two oil tankers near Iraq has killed at least one crew member.
Farhan Al-Fartousi, from the General Port Authority of Iraq, told Iraqi government television that one crew member has been killed and 38 people rescued, whilst “search operations continue to find the missing.”
He did not disclose the nationality of the crew members or provide details about who was behind the attack.
According to Al Arabiya and AFP reports on Thursday (12 March 2026), Iraq’s government media unit told the national news agency INA that “two oil tankers were targeted for sabotage.”
The Iraqi Ministry of Oil stated on Thursday (12 March) that it had “deep concerns” over the incident involving oil tankers in the Gulf, without providing further details.
“The safety of maritime navigation in international maritime corridors and energy supply routes must remain free from regional conflict,” the ministry added.
The Strait of Hormuz—a waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes—remains closed to nearly all oil tankers, and Iran has vowed that not a single litre of oil will be exported from the Gulf whilst war with the United States and Israel continues.
US President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday (11 March) that American forces had attacked 28 Iranian minesweeper vessels, more than a week after Middle Eastern conflict began.
An employee at the Basra oil terminal in Iraq told AFP that it remains unclear “whether it was a drone attack or a ship laden with explosives.”
The Iraqi State Organisation for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) confirmed in a statement that two oil tankers were attacked, without providing details about how the attack occurred.
According to SOMO, the Malta-flagged oil tanker ZEFYROS was attacked whilst preparing to enter 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, sails under the Marshall Islands flag and is chartered by an Iraqi company, according to SOMO.
The incident occurred just hours after the United States Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, warned that Iran and Tehran-backed armed groups in Iraq might target US-owned oil facilities in Iraq.