Key facts
- Two sailors died in an attack on the Saudi oil tanker Sidr in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Saudi Arabia accused Iran of targeting the vessel.
- Iran launched new missile and drone strikes against U.S. bases in the region.
- U.S. forces had previously struck Iranian air defenses and other capabilities.
- Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to four vessels on Tuesday.
Two sailors died following an attack on the Saudi oil tanker Sidr in the Strait of Hormuz, an incident that Saudi Arabia has formally accused Iran of perpetrating. The attack occurred as Iran launched a new series of missile and drone strikes targeting U.S. military facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
Bahri confirmed Wednesday that the two Filipino crew members were killed in the attack on the Sidr. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Iran for the targeting of the tanker and reiterated its rejection of actions that threaten "the security and safety of maritime navigation and global energy supplies."
The Sidr was one of two supertankers hit near Oman late Monday while attempting to depart the Persian Gulf. UK Maritime Trade Operations had initially reported that a tanker was struck by three unknown projectiles, with no casualties reported at the time.
The deaths aboard the Sidr significantly raise the stakes for Saudi Arabia, as U.S. and Iranian forces engage in retaliatory strikes across the Gulf. Iran's Wednesday strikes followed U.S. actions against Iranian air defenses, radar systems, maritime assets, and mine-laying capabilities.
President Donald Trump commented that the United States now possesses "almost total control of the Hormuz Strait" and issued a warning to Tehran that further retaliation would result in a U.S. response "at a much harder and higher level."
The Sidr is the fourth Bahri vessel to be attacked since June. The Wedyan supertanker was struck in the Strait earlier in August, while the Bahri vessels Amzan and Masa were attacked in the Red Sea after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia.
Preliminary data from Kpler, cited by Reuters, indicated that only four commodity vessels transited Hormuz on Tuesday. This compares to 10 vessels on Monday and a 10-day average of approximately 13.