Tanker set ablaze after being struck in Strait of Hormuz as Iran mourns Khamenei

A tanker traveling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught on fire after being struck by a projectile, officials said.

The attack on Tuesday morning was the latest targeting a vessel moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime.

Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault.

Tehran has repeatedly declared that only its approved route through the strait is safe and is suspected of attacking other ships that have used another route close to the Omani shore.

The US is eager to press ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the strait, rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme and reaching a permanent end to the war launched February 28.

But previous attacks in the strait have sparked retaliatory strikes by the US, which then saw Iran attack Gulf Arab states — raising the risk of an escalation.

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Talks between Iran and the US, meanwhile, appear to be on hold until after the burial of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the beginning of the war.

Signs have been increasing that mourners at his funeral were calling for the death of US President Donald Trump.

Authorities flew Mr Khamenei’s body to the Shiite seminary city of Qom overnight, where mourners honoured him on Tuesday.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said the tanker had been hit near Limah, Oman, in the strait.

The UKMTO said the projectile hit the port side of the vessel while trying to travel south out of the strait towards the Gulf of Oman.

It said there was no environmental impact from the strike and that authorities were investigating.

Iranian state TV, quoting anonymous sources, implied Tehran carried out the assault on a tanker it said was carrying natural gas from Qatar.

However, there has been no official claim from the Islamic Republic for the attack.

Iran’s joint military command warned last Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the strait must use its approved routes.

It also said that interference by US forces in the strait “will be met with a rapid and decisive reaction”.

But the Joint Maritime Information Centre, a multinational body overseen by the US Navy, told shippers on Monday that the route around Oman “has been expanded and remains available for all traffic”.

Mr Trump on Monday at the White House also warned Iran that they would need to “make a deal or we’re going to finish the job”.

“I’d rather make a deal, because I don’t want to affect 91 million people,” Mr Trump said.

“We can knock down their bridges in one hour. We can knock out their energy supply.”

Iran and the US agreed as part of an interim deal to allow ships to pass without paying charges for 60 days.

But Tehran insisted it must control the routes of the vessels and later charge fees for passage, upending decades of practice in the waterway.

The US and many Gulf Arab states say they will not agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait.

An effort by Oman and a United Nations agency to launch a new route near Oman’s shore earlier sparked attacks across the Middle East, highlighting the tensions.

The data firm Kpler reported that over the last weekend at least 108 ships crossed through the strait using various routes.

Iranian state television early on Tuesday aired live images from a helicopter of hundreds of thousands of people walking toward Jamkaran Mosque, just south of Qom, for a funeral service for Mr Khamenei.

The mosque is believed by Shiites to have once hosted the Muhammad al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam, who disappeared in the ninth century and will one day reappear to bring justice to the world.

Images of Mr Khamenei and his son, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, were displayed on banners and posters held by mourners.

Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days.

He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

At the height of the war, before an April ceasefire, Israel targeted top Iranian leaders, in at least one case likely using their public appearances to fix their position.

It has also threatened to kill the younger Khamenei.

Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began on Saturday and will end on Thursday as Mr Khamenei, who was 86, is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.