Second ship struck in three days near the Strait of Hormuz... Iran: “We hit an LPG carrier; vessels using illegal routes will be tracked across the region”

[Financial News] A vessel was hit by an unidentified projectile and caught fire in waters near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, while Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility and warned that it would extend its military response to vessels violating regulations beyond the strait.
On the 9th (local time), the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that at around 2 p.m. that day, a vessel underway was hit by a projectile in waters 13 nautical miles (about 24 km) west of Al Jazeera in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A fire broke out on the vessel immediately after it was hit, but was reportedly extinguished. The extent of the damage, the safety of those on board, and whether the marine environment had been polluted have yet to be officially confirmed, and the relevant authorities are investigating.
Shortly after the incident, Iran’s IRGC said through state-run IRIB and Tasnim News Agency, among others, that it had struck the LPG carrier NV Sunshine. The IRGC claimed that the vessel was attacked as it attempted to pass through an unauthorized, illegal route south of the Strait of Hormuz, and that a major fire in the engine room and propulsion system forced it to suspend operations. However, it has yet to be independently confirmed whether the vessel mentioned by the IRGC is the same one that UKMTO reported had been hit.
The IRGC threatened to tighten controls on maritime traffic further in response to the attack. In a statement, it said, “From now on, response measures against vessels violating regulations will not be limited to the Strait of Hormuz,” adding, “Vessels transiting without authorization will be tracked throughout the region and severely punished, and we will also impose sanctions on other vessels belonging to the offending shipping companies.”
Meanwhile, attacks on vessels have been occurring one after another in the area recently. After a tanker was attacked in waters near Qatar on the 7th, a second vessel-hit incident in three days was reported in the Persian Gulf and near the Strait of Hormuz, bringing tensions on key oil and gas shipping routes to a peak.
[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter