Kuwait Intercepts Drones as Tanker Is Hit Off Oman

Overview

• Kuwait’s military said it engaged incoming Iranian drones on August 1 and that explosions heard in the country came from air-defense intercepts.
• The UK Maritime Trade Operations warned that a tanker about 11 nautical miles northeast of Lima on Oman's Musandam Peninsula was struck by an unknown projectile, damaging its engine room and leaving the ship not under command.
• A separate UKMTO report said a second tanker’s crew observed a large splash and explosion about 21 nautical miles northeast of Khasab with no damage or casualties reported.
• Regional coast guards have been notified and formal investigations are under way while shipowners have reduced transits through the Strait of Hormuz and taken extra precautions.
• The incidents follow weeks of stepped-up U.S.-Iran military exchanges and naval moves from mid-July, raising the prospect of wider disruption to oil flows and complicating talks involving Oman to manage passage through the strait.