At least one person died and two oil tankers caught fire on Wednesday after explosions in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Basra, Iraq, that authorities suspect were caused by attacks.Reuters, citing preliminary findings of an Iraqi-led investigation into the incident, reported that Iranian boats laden with explosives may have attacked the ships.
Footage of the incident shows that the tankers were parked next to each other when the explosions occurred, causing a large fire that spread to the surrounding waters.The ships involved have been identified as the Maltese-flagged Zephyros and the Marshall Islands-flagged Cefsi Vishnu, CNN reports. According to the NYPost, the ships may have been carrying 400,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil. .Farhan al-Fartousi, director general of the Iraqi Ports Company, told CNN that all 38 foreign crew members were evacuated from the damaged ships after the “explosion.” Pictures from the scene showed flames spreading in the water, suggesting oil was leaking from the ships.According to Al Jazeera, the incident occurred within Iraq’s territorial waters at Al Faw port near Basra. Cefsi Vishnu is owned by US-based Cefsi Transport Inc., while Zephyros is owned by a Greek company. SafeSea Transport did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The alleged attack comes amid rising tensions in the region and disruption to global oil supply routes. Oil prices have risen this week on concerns about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key corridor through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes daily.Military actions and retaliatory attacks related to the ongoing conflict in Iran have already disrupted traffic in the strait, forcing many producers to cut output. Iran has also threatened to block oil tankers from passing through the strategic waterway.The United States has responded by targeting several Iranian mining vessels earlier this week, while President Donald Trump has hinted he may release oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to stabilize prices. Separately, the International Energy Agency said its 31 member countries planned to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to offset supply disruptions.