A tanker traveling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught on fire after being struck by a projectile, according to the British military. The attack was the latest targeting a vessel moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Background
The U.S. is eager to press ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the strait, rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, and reaching a permanent end to the war. However, previous attacks in the strait have sparked retaliatory strikes by the U.S., which then saw Iran attack Gulf Arab states — raising the risk of an escalation.
Tehran has repeatedly declared that only its approved route through the strait is safe and is suspected of attacking other ships that have used another route close to the Omani shore. The U.S. and many Gulf Arab states say they won’t agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait.
Mourning in Iran
Iranian state television aired live images from a helicopter of hundreds of thousands of people walking toward Jamkaran Mosque, just south of Qom, for a funeral service for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The mosque is believed by Shiites to have once hosted the Muhammad al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam, who disappeared in the 9th century and will one day reappear to bring justice to the world.
Original reporting: KTSA News/Talk (San Antonio) — read the source article.
