{"id":3542,"date":"2026-10-30T17:03:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T12:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3542"},"modified":"2026-10-30T17:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T12:03:47","slug":"tanker-in-strait-of-hormuz-hit-by-limpet-mines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3542","title":{"rendered":"Tanker in Strait of Hormuz hit by limpet mines"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A small \u200bboat attached two limpet mines to the hull of a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz \u200c, causing a fire in its engine room and temporarily disabling the vessel, in the first successful use of such explosives in the waterway since the US war with Iran began in February, maritime sources said on Friday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The crew was safe, there was no environmental \u200bimpact, and the fire had been extinguished, British navy agency United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in an advisory \u200bnote, adding that the vessel, which it did not name, was continuing to its next \u2060port of call.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred on Thursday, 25 nautical miles (46 km) northeast of Oman\u2019s Khasab, UKMTO said.<\/p>\n

It was \u200bnot immediately clear who was behind the attack.<\/p>\n

The incident comes amid repeated attacks on commercial shipping in and around the \u200bStrait of Hormuz, one of the world\u2019s most important oil export routes, since the outbreak of the conflict between the US and Iran in February.<\/p>\n

Iran has hit vessels it says have violated its restrictions on passage through the strategic waterway, as it seeks to assert \u200bcontrol over the strait and exert pressure on Washington.<\/p>\n

The tanker \u2014 the Panama-flagged Louise 1 \u2014 was targeted with limpet \u200bmines, according to assessments from three maritime security sources<\/p>\n

This is the first known successful strike using limpet mines in the \u200carea since \u2060the beginning of the US war with Iran and followed a separate attempt in September using such devices which did not detonate, two of the sources said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe apparent ability of a small craft to approach a transiting tanker, deploy explosive devices and withdraw presents a significant security concern, particularly in the Strait\u2019s congested shipping lanes,\u201d Greece-based maritime \u200brisk management group Marisks said \u200bin a note on \u2060Friday.<\/p>\n

Marisks said limpet mines were first deployed in the region in 2017 and used against tankers in the Strait of Hormuz in subsequent years, adding that \u201climpet mines \u200bare cheap and easily available\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe methodology of a small craft attaching these mines on \u200bthe hulls of \u2060vessels in transit is cheap, low-tech,<\/u> and very efficient,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian forces also hit the Louise 1 in July with naval drones in the Black Sea over what Ukraine\u2019s SBU security service said was its role in transporting \u2060Russian oil \u200band being part of the so-called shadow fleet of tankers deployed \u200bby Moscow to keep oil exports flowing.<\/p>\n

The vessel\u2019s Panama-based operator, listed in shipping databases as Aquarius Maritime Ventures, could not be immediately reached \u200bfor comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A small \u200bboat attached two limpet mines to the hull of a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz \u200c, causing a fire in its engine room and temporarily disabling the vessel, in the first successful use of such explosives in the waterway since the US war with Iran began in February, maritime sources said on Friday. The crew was safe, there was no environmental \u200bimpact, and the fire had been extinguished, British navy agency United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in an advisory \u200bnote, adding that the vessel, which it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}