Oman: Oil tanker linked to Israeli billionaire ‘hit by bomb-carrying drone’

Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping said the Pacific Zircon, carrying gas oil, had been ‘hit by a projectile’ 150 miles off the coast of Oman
Mercer Street tanker is seen off Fujairah Port
The Gulf of Oman has seen drone attacks before, including one on the MT Mercer Street (pictured) in July 2021
REUTERS
Michael Howie16 November 2022

An oil tanker associated with an Israeli billionaire has been struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman amid heightened tensions with Iran, an official has said.

The attack happened on Tuesday night, the Middle East-based defence source said.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military organisation in the region monitoring shipping, told the Associated Press: “We are aware of an incident and it’s being investigated at this time.”

The official identified the vessel as the Liberian-flagged Pacific Zircon, operated by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, a company ultimately owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.

In a statement, Eastern Pacific said the Pacific Zircon, carrying gas oil, had been “hit by a projectile” 150 miles off the coast of Oman.

“We are in communication with the vessel and there is no report of injuries or pollution. All crew are safe and accounted for,” the company said.

“There is some minor damage to the vessel’s hull but no spillage of cargo or water ingress.”

No one immediately claimed the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on Iran. Tehran and Israel have been involved in a years-long shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels travelling around the region.

The US also blamed Iran for a series of attacks off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Tehran then started escalating its nuclear programme after the US unilaterally withdraw from its atomic deal with world powers.

In 2021, a suspected Iranian drone strike hit Israeli-associated oil tanker Mercer Street off Oman, killing two people onboard.

Iranian state media did not immediately acknowledge the attack on the Pacific Zircon.

It was not immediately clear where the vessel was on Wednesday. Satellite-tracking data from late on Tuesday provided by MarineTraffic.com put the vessel deep in the Arabian Sea after leaving the Omani port of Sohar.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in