Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) — A Panama-flagged tanker carrying around 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil was hit by a drone in Iraqi territorial seas on Wednesday, pushing the intensifying US-Iran naval war straight into Iraq’s southern energy-export zone.
According to Reuters and Iraqi port authorities, a drone struck the tanker New Andros at 6 a.m. local time.
The impact started a fire on the vessel, which Iraqi rescue boats subsequently doused.
All 22 crew members were declared safe, with no injuries.
The tragedy poses yet another significant challenge to Iraq’s economy, which is still highly reliant on petroleum exports from its southern terminals as well as maritime routes across the Arabian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.
It comes amid the most intense escalation of assaults on regional commerce since the US-Iran conflict started six months ago.
Iran announced Wednesday that it has targeted ten boats in the Strait of Hormuz after the United States bombed and destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in retaliation to Iranian ballistic missile attacks on a US Navy destroyer.
Several more merchant boats have reportedly been struck or damaged in the northern Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, indicating the rising potential that commercial shipping, including Iraqi oil exports, may be caught up in the escalating conflict.
Traffic via Hormuz has already dropped significantly.
According to preliminary Kpler data, just six cargo tankers with active monitoring systems passed through the strait on Tuesday, compared to a 10-day average of 12.
Before the conflict, Hormuz handled nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supply.
The unrest is also expanding across the Gulf.
The Iran-aligned Houthis staged huge drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia this week, attacking southern towns and oil installations and injuring 73 people, according to Saudi officials.
For Iraq, the attack on New Andros highlights the risk of depending on southern marine export routes during the regional crisis.
Baghdad has lately advanced planning for alternate pipelines to Turkey and Syria’s Mediterranean coast in an effort to decrease its vulnerability to delays near Hormuz.
The current escalation has also jolted global energy markets, with Brent oil surpassing $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since July.
