Two tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday (Jul 7), and Iran said there would be no more peace talks unless Donald Trump halted his repeated threats to restart the war, as millions of Iranians vowed vengeance at the week-long funeral of their slain leader.
The Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker Al Rekayyat reported that it had been struck overnight and its engine room set on fire. Maritime security sources said a Saudi crude oil tanker had also been damaged.
“Mayday mayday mayday. This is vessel Al Rekayyat, LNG vessel Al Rekayyat. We are being hit by drone on port side, top of engine room,” the Rekayyat’s captain said in a recorded radio call reviewed by Reuters. “Status: engine room fire and full of smoke. Unable to assess further damage.”
He said the crew were safe but the ship had been disabled without engines or steering, and called for help from any vessels in the area.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks. News website Axios reported that Iran had fired on two ships. Neither Washington nor Tehran commented directly on the reports.
The incidents, the first reported attacks in the strait since mourning for Iran’s supreme leader began last week, were a reminder that Gulf shipping remains unresolved more than four months after the US and Israel launched a war they said would stop Iran from being able to threaten its neighbours.
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TAKE TO STREETS IN QOM
Iran’s clerical rulers have exerted newfound control over the world’s most important energy shipping route, where they aim to install a permanent system to collect fees in what would amount to a huge shift of the balance of power in a region where Washington has acted as guarantor of security for generations.
Iran’s leadership has demonstrated its firm grip on the country during a week of mourning for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed along with his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the first day of the war.
The caskets of the slain leader and family were driven through the streets of the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday, where many hundreds of thousands of people carried flags and banners comparing Khamenei to martyrs whose deaths are foundational to the Shi’ite sect.
In chants, they vowed to avenge Khamenei. Some bore placards and banners reading “KILL TRUMP”.
A similar huge funeral procession was held in the streets of Tehran on Monday, following more solemn prayer events that began last Friday, attracting top figures in Iran’s leadership and dignitaries from abroad. Authorities say the leader’s body will be taken to Shi’ite holy cities in neighbouring Iraq, then brought back to Iran and laid to rest in a mediaeval shrine.