Tanker struck by projectile off Saudi Arabia's Yanbu, UK maritime authorities report

A tanker was struck by an unknown projectile and caught fire about 63 nautical miles west of the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said on August 23.

The strike is the latest in a widening campaign against Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea, where Yemen's Houthi group declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia on July 20 and has since pursued tankers well north of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, defeating the rerouting that operators had used to avoid its earlier target zone.

No casualties were reported, and the crew were safe, UKMTO added in the latest report, suggesting attacks from Houthi forces could be increasing in the area, adding further strain to US efforts to control the Hormuz situation.

UKMTO said a company security officer had reported that the vessel was struck by an unknown projectile, causing a fire on the main deck, with no environmental impact recorded. The incident was logged at 6:37 UTC, according to the agency.

The attack compounds a squeeze on Saudi export routes that has left both of the region's oil chokepoints shut at once, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed since the Iran war began in February and the southern Red Sea under Houthi threat.

Riyadh had rerouted the bulk of its crude through the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu to bypass Hormuz, sending that traffic straight into the new embargo zone.

Iran's IRNA had earlier relayed UKMTO's account of the incident west of Yanbu.

The Houthis have stepped up strikes on Saudi-linked shipping and naval targets in recent weeks under what the group calls a "blockade for blockade" policy.

Days earlier, UKMTO reported a separate incident involving a tanker about 136 nautical miles east of the Yemeni port of Mukalla, where six armed men boarded the vessel and diverted it towards Somalia after approaching as the crew sailed west through the Gulf of Aden.