MUSCAT — A tanker was struck by two unidentified projectiles off the coast of Oman late on Tuesday, November 3, at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) said. The incident happened at 1900 GMT about 14 nautical miles (26 km) northeast of Limah, on Oman's Musandam Peninsula at the strait.

Source: UKMTO via The Insight International

The tanker's company security officer reported that both projectiles hit the vessel's engine room, UKMTO said. No casualties and no environmental damage were reported. UKMTO did not name the tanker and did not say where the projectiles came from, and no state or group has claimed the attack.

Source: UKMTO via Maritime Gateway

UKMTO told ships in the area to proceed with caution and report any suspicious activity while authorities investigate. The agency's notices on the Limah incidents did not establish responsibility for any of the attacks.

Source: UKMTO via Maritime Gateway

Three ships struck in the same stretch of water in three days

In a warning issued on November 2, UKMTO described another vessel being struck about nine nautical miles northeast of Limah: its master reported a hole in the starboard side, the ship and crew were safe, and no environmental impact was reported. On the evening of November 2, the Indian-flagged sailing vessel MSV Al Jusufi was attacked near Limah while sailing outbound through the Strait of Hormuz.

Source: Maritime Gateway

India's Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on November 3 that seafarer Gandhar Nahim Ajij, from Gujarat, was killed in the Al Jusufi attack and that the other 13 Indian crew members were rescued by the Omani Coast Guard. Ports and Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the vessel was struck by an unidentified aerial object. The MEA condemned the targeting of commercial shipping, said the Indian Embassy in Oman is coordinating with local authorities to bring home the survivors and Ajij's remains, and called for the earliest resumption of unobstructed navigation.

Source: Maritime Gateway

The Al Jusufi attack and India's response were reported in full by this desk on Tuesday. Indian seafarer killed in Al Jusufi attack off Oman

The same day: US strikes Iran at Qeshm, and Tehran says Hormuz stays shut

The Limah tanker was hit on the same day President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States had struck an Iranian air-defence facility on Qeshm Island, describing it to Fox News as a “minor attack” on a facility Iran had spent about two months building and the US had watched being built. US officials, speaking anonymously, called the Qeshm strike defensive and said it answered Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fire on a US aircraft on November 2; the Israeli military denied any involvement, AFP reported.

Source: Al Jazeera via EuropeSays

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy said three oil tankers had hit mines and caught fire in the strait after using what it called unauthorized routes. There was no independent confirmation of that claim, and UKMTO's verified reports describe the Limah-area ships as struck by projectiles or an aerial object, not mines.

Source: The Insight International

Tehran's political answer also hardened on Tuesday. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X that Washington's reply to Iran's seven conditions was “not convincing” and that the Strait of Hormuz would stay shut to the United States until the conditions were fully and explicitly addressed and acted upon. The reported conditions include lifting the American naval blockade on Iranian ports, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales, releasing frozen Iranian funds, and observing a ceasefire including in Lebanon — a line Tehran has held for weeks. Iran's chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Tehran had delivered a “firm and rational” response to the American side.

Source: Al Jazeera via EuropeSays

Oil, shipping and the human cost

Shipping through the strait has been disrupted since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28, and Iran has since tightened its control over traffic in the waterway, through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil normally passes. Brent crude rose nearly two percent to $106.50 a barrel early on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, as the Qeshm strike and the shipping attacks kept the oil market on edge.

Source: Associated Press via UrduPro; The Insight International

The International Maritime Organization listed 128 confirmed incidents and 24 confirmed seafarer fatalities in its Middle East incident update as of November 3. For the Indian and Punjabi families whose relatives crew Gulf ships or work in Gulf ports and yards, the Limah attacks are not distant news: the Al Jusufi's entire crew was Indian, and every new UKMTO warning from the Musandam coast lands directly in homes across coastal India and the diaspora.

Source: IMO via Maritime Gateway

What happens next

Authorities are investigating the Limah strike and UKMTO's caution advisory remains the operative guidance for ships transiting the area. Diplomatically, Qatar has stepped up efforts to avert a renewed war, while US Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that he and Trump “both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement.” Against that, US media citing officials reported that Central Command had prepared plans for strikes that could begin as early as Wednesday, after the US midterm elections, when three American aircraft carriers would be in the region — a timeline that makes the next 48 hours decisive for whether the Limah attack stays an isolated hit or becomes part of a wider round.

Source: Al Jazeera via EuropeSays