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Two tankers were evacuated to the Gulf of Oman as a result of attacks on ships, which triggered an international alarm and caused a surge in oil prices.
The scores of the crew members of the The Altair Front (Marshall Islands flag) and Kokuka (Panama), of the Panamanian flag, abandoned the ships Thursday after making distress calls in the middle of the explosions on board.
The cause of the explosions was not clear, but one operator indicated that he suspected that his ship had been hit by a torpedo.
The Iranian Press Agency for the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRNA) reported that 44 Iranian research teams had embarked 44 sailors – 21 Kokuka and 23 Altair Front – following the incidents and took them to the nearby port of Jask.
The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet of the US Navy said it had also helped tankers after receiving two distress calls.
BSM Ship Management (Singapore), the management company of Kokuka Courageous (Singapore), said that 21 members of the ship's crew had abandoned the ship after an incident on board that had damaged the starboard side of the hull. The vessel was about 70 nautical miles (about 130 km) from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and about 14 nautical miles (26 km) from the Iran.
"The Kokuka Courageous stays in the area and is not likely to sink, the cargo of methanol is intact," the statement said. One crew member was injured during the incident and was receiving medical attention on another nearby ship, the statement said.
Two tankers near the strategic strait of Ormuz were reportedly attacked Thursday, an badault that left a fire and drifting [ISNA/AP]
Meanwhile, Altair Front had been chartered by the Taiwanese oil refiner CBC Corp and was carrying 75,000 tons of naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, while "suspected of being hit by a torpedo". Around noon, Taiwan time (04:00 GMT), Wu I-Fang, CEO of the CPC Petrochemical Division, told the Reuters news agency. He said that all members of the crew had been saved.
The Norwegian shipping company Frontline, owner of the Altair Front, said his ship was on fire.
Frontline said the ship was afloat, denying a report from Iran's IRNA agency that it was sinking, and said the 23-member crew consisted of 11 Russians, 11 Filipinos and one Georgian .
They were rescued by the Hyundai Dubai, transferred to an Iranian navy ship and are destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, Frontline added.
Soaring oil prices
Thursday's incidents, which took place A month after four other tankers were damaged in the same region, they caused a surge in crude oil prices in Brent and sent the product up more than 3% to about $ 62 per barrel.
The Gulf of Oman lies at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. One third of the oil sold by sea, or 20% of world trade, pbades through the strait.
Paolo d'Amico, president of the INTERTANKO (International Association of Independent Oil Shipowners), said it was concerned about further disturbances in the region, warning that "the supply of the entire western world could be threatened".
"I am extremely worried about the safety of our crews crossing the Strait of Ormuz," said Amico in a statement.
Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, President of the World Maritime University, added that any major disruption of shipping in the Gulf would "have significant consequences for shipping markets because it would affect tanker capacity and costs. d & # 39; exploitation ".
"It also has implications for the insurance, the crew and the additional protective measures needed to keep ships moving," she told Al Jazeera from Malmo in Sweden.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the incidents as "suspects", with reported attacks coinciding with a meeting between the Japanese prime minister. Shinzo Abe and the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Abe was in Tehran as part of efforts to ease growing tensions between the Islamic Republic and the United States.
Attacks on oil tankers related to Japan took place while PM @AbeShinzo was in meeting with the ayatollah @khamenei_ir for in-depth and friendly discussions.
Suspicious does not begin to describe what probably happened this morning.
The Regional Dialogue Forum proposed by Iran is imperative.
– Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 13, 2019
The Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko, told reporters: "An oil tanker carrying goods related to Japan has been attacked.There is no were injured among the crew members.They left the tanker.There were no Japanese members. "
Other international powers have also expressed concern about the incidents, particularly in France and Great Britain, the first calling on all parties involved in the Gulf to defuse tensions and preserve the freedom of navigation routes. .
Regional tensions are rising
Friction has intensified in the Middle East in recent weeks, particularly during the previous attack on oil tankers off the United Arab Emirates last month.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton accused Iran of committing the May 12 incidents without providing evidence.
At the same time, the UAE claimed that preliminary results of an investigation into the attacks had revealed that they were part of a "coordinated" operation presumably conducted by an actor in the US. State, without however attributing the responsibility to a specific country.
Iran denied being involved in the May incidents.
The brave tanker of Kokuka 21 crew ship abandoned ship [File: Alexander Demin/EPA]
Tensions between the United States and Iran are fading after more than a year of increasingly conflictual relations, unleashed by the decision of President Donald Trump in May 2018 to withdraw from a state of affairs. historic agreement.
Under the 2015 agreement, Iran has agreed to reduce its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Since the withdrawal of the nuclear agreement, the White House has implemented a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran. In this context, the Trump government has once again imposed punitive sanctions and decided to cancel out the country's oil exports, tipping its economy into freefall.
The United States has also blacklisted Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist group", prompting Tehran to respond. Last month, Washington reinforced its military presence in the Gulf in response to an unspecified threat from Iran.
Since then, the war of words between rivals has continued to intensify, Tehran accusing the United States of conducting a "psychological war" and an "economic terrorism" against Iran.
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