A maritime authority announces that a second tanker was attacked off the coast of Saudi Arabia... and the Revolutionary Guard comments

An oil tanker was attacked in northeastern Saudi Arabia late on Friday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which monitors maritime incidents, hours after reports emerged that another tanker had been targeted in the Gulf. A crew member reported that they were “attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired from a small boat” 78 nautical miles northeast of the coastal industrial city of Jubail in Saudi Arabia, at approximately 7:22 pm UTC (3:22 ​​pm EST), the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) posted on the “X” platform, Saturday.

The authority stated that all crew members “have been confirmed safe” and are “fine.” Earlier on Friday, another tanker was hit by an unknown projectile in the same area, according to the UKMTO.

On the other hand, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed that “a second giant oil tanker exploded and caught fire after colliding with a sea mine” in the Strait of Hormuz, according to what was reported by the official Iranian “IRNA” news agency. The Public Relations of the Revolutionary Guard Navy added in a statement, on Saturday, that “the giant oil tanker was loaded with more than two million barrels of crude oil, and it attempted to cross an illegal route after turning off all its tracking systems and radar devices, but its collision with a naval mine led to a massive explosion in the engine room, which resulted in the ship stopping in its place.”

Tehran intensified its attacks on tankers in and near the vital Strait of Hormuz, where ships were transporting a fifth of the world's oil supplies before US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliatory strikes led to the outbreak of regional violence in late February.