Gunmen Fire on LNG Tanker Off Yemen as Attacks on Gulf Shipping Spread Beyond Hormuz

A liquefied natural gas tanker came under fire off Yemen's southern coast on Saturday evening, extending a run of attacks on merchant shipping that has now stretched from the Persian Gulf, through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Arabian Sea.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO), which tracks security incidents for commercial vessels in the region, said the tanker's master reported being approached by a small skiff carrying seven people roughly 140 nautical miles (about 259 km) southeast of the port city of Al Mukalla. The skiff fired two rounds towards the ship. The armed security team on board answered with two warning shots, after which the boat changed course. No injuries or damage were reported, and UKMTO advised vessels in the area to transit with caution while authorities investigate.

A third front in one day

On its own, a brush with a skiff would be a minor incident. What makes it notable is where it sits in Saturday's sequence. Earlier in the day, UKMTO reported that a tanker roughly 78 nautical miles northeast of Saudi Arabia's Jubail had been struck by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from a small boat, damaging the ship's stern on the port side. All crew were reported safe. A separate tanker had been hit by an unidentified projectile near the same stretch of Saudi coast.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, meanwhile, said a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude caught fire after hitting a naval mine while using what it called an unauthorised route through the Strait of Hormuz, and repeated that the strait is closed to vessels that do not coordinate with Tehran. That claim has not been independently verified, and the vessel has not been named. US Central Command says it has cleared the waterway of mines and that ships are being hit by projectiles instead.

Taken together, the incidents span three distinct bodies of water: the Saudi Gulf coast, Hormuz itself and the open sea off Yemen. Al Mukalla lies well east of the Bab el-Mandeb, the southern Red Sea chokepoint now held by the Iran-aligned Houthis, which means the threat to shipping is no longer concentrated at a single narrow passage.

Competing claims over who controls the water

Washington and Tehran are presenting sharply different pictures. CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper said late on Friday that around 400 ships and 100 million barrels of oil moved through Hormuz over the previous week and that the strait is controlled by the US and its regional partners. UKMTO's own weekly count was more cautious: at least 12 vessels were confirmed attacked in the week to October 16, with one sinking and two disabled, and the agency warned that most attacked ships are not reporting to it at all.

Ship-tracking firm Kpler put Hormuz oil flows at about 11.6 million barrels a day in the week to October 13, roughly two-thirds of the pre-war level. Brent crude touched $110 a barrel on Friday for the first time since May.

Why it matters for India

India imports most of its crude and a large share of its LNG through these routes, so every widening of the danger zone feeds into freight rates, war-risk insurance premiums and, eventually, landed fuel costs. An attack on an LNG carrier in the Arabian Sea, even one that ended without damage, is the kind of incident insurers price in quickly.

The diplomatic track offers little near-term relief. Messages are still being passed between Washington and Tehran through mediators including Pakistan and Qatar, but no breakthrough is expected, and US media reports suggest larger American strikes are being prepared for after the November 3 midterm elections.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.