A ship was struck on Wednesday by "an unknown projectile" off the coast of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a fire, a British maritime security agency said. The tanker, 11 nautical miles (around 20 kilometres) off the town of Bukha, is "now at anchor,” the UKMTO reported. "All crew are reported as safe. There is no reported environmental impact at this time," it said. The Strait of Hormuz carried 20 percent of the world's oil and gas prior to the Middle East war, which erupted with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. Since then, Tehran has placed a chokehold on the shipping route and regularly targets ships that pass without its authorisation. Washington has responded by maintaining a blockade on Iranian ports, and negotiations between the two countries are deadlocked. Attacks on vessels attempting to cross the waterway have increased in recent days, as Washington escorts more ships through the strait and Tehran seeks to maintain control over their passage.
