Oman reported on March 1 that a small oil tanker was attacked off its coast in the Arabian Sea.
This is the first sign of an attack targeting ships near the Strait of Hormuz in the context of ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The Oman Maritime Security Agency said that the Skylight oil tanker was attacked north of Khasab port.
The oil tanker Skylight, flying the Republic of Palau flag, was attacked 5 nautical miles north of Khasab port in Musandam province.
According to a post on social network X, Oman maritime officials evacuated 20 crew members. Among the 20 crew members were 15 Indians and 5 Iranians.
Preliminary information shows that 4 sailors were injured to varying degrees and have been transferred to the necessary medical treatment.
Information about the oil tanker being attacked was released after Oman state media reported that 2 drones attacked Duqm port, injuring 1 foreign worker.
Accordingly, a drone crashed into a mobile housing area of workers, while debris from the second drone fell near fuel tanks but did not cause significant damage.
Qatar has strongly condemned Iran's attacks targeting Oman's Duqm trading port and an oil tanker off its coast.
Qatar considers these attacks a violation of Oman's sovereignty, an unacceptable escalation and a cowardly act aimed at a country playing a positive role in reconciliation efforts" - Qatar's Foreign Ministry said.
The incident occurred in the context of the US and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28 that killed many senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khamenei's security advisor Ali Shamkhani, General Abdolrahim Mousavi - Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) Mohammad Pakpour.
IRNA news agency added that many other armed forces commanders were also killed and the names of these people will be announced later.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps declared it would retaliate and said it had launched attacks on 27 bases with US troops stationed in the Middle East, as well as Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv.
Iran's retaliatory attacks targeted Israel and US targets in many Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Some countries in the region have closed their airspace amid back-and-forth attacks.
