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BAGHDAD (AP) – Iraqi explosives experts were working to defuse a large mine found on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and evacuate its crew, authorities said on Friday.
The statement came a day after two private security companies said sailors feared they had found a limpet mine on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker in the waters off the Iraqi port of Basra. A limpet mine is a type of naval mine that attaches to the side of a ship, usually by a special forces diver. It later explodes and can seriously damage a ship.
The Iraqi statement said the mine had been attached to an oil tanker hired from the Iraqi oil marketing company SOMO which was supplying another vessel. Iraqi naval forces were making “a big effort to accomplish the mission” safely, said the Iraqi security media cell, affiliated with the country’s security forces.
It was the first official Iraqi confirmation that a mine had been discovered on an Iraqi tanker transferring fuel in the Persian Gulf to another vessel. He did not identify any of the vessels or provide further details.
The discovery came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States in the final days of President Donald Trump’s administration.
America has already flown B-52 bombers and sent a nuclear submarine to the Persian Gulf over what Trump officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the first anniversary of the US drone strike in Baghdad which killed a senior Iranian general. and a leader of the Iraqi militia.
Iraq is celebrating this anniversary with a series of events this week.
The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, a British Royal Navy organization, said on its website on Thursday that an “unknown object” had been attached to the hull of a ship near the Iraqi port of Khor Al-Zubair , without providing more information.
The Pola serves as a floating fuel oil storage for the Iraqi State Petroleum Marketing Organization, said Sudharsan Sarathy, senior oil analyst at data analysis firm Refinitiv. Small vessels transport the fuel to the ship, which then makes ship-to-ship transfers in the Persian Gulf to customers.
Sarathy said the Pola was on a ship-to-ship transfer with the Bermuda-flagged tanker MT Nordic Freedom.
Friday’s statement said that an explosives handling team from the Iraqi Interior Ministry was airlifted to the scene after a “foreign object” was observed attached to one of the ships in the area. holding zone in Iraqi international waters, 28 nautical miles from Iraqi oil ports.
Despite heavy waves, the vessel receiving the fuel was evacuated as the Iraqi team were still working on neutralizing the mine and evacuating the supply vessel, he said.
In 2019, the United States accused Iran of a series of limpet mine attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all the world’s oil passes. . Iran denies being involved.
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