CAIRO, March 2 (Reuters) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said a fuel tanker, identified as the Honduran-flagged Athe Nova, was burning in the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by two drones, Iranian news agencies reported on Monday.
The strait is the world’s most vital oil export route, connecting the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
A Guards statement said the vessel was acting in “unison with America” and identified it as Athen Nova. VesselFinder and other tracking data providers showed the Athe Nova, a 96-meter tanker, was in the area shortly before the attack.
An Iranian military spokesman did not explicitly state that the ship was hit by Iranian drones but named the incident in a report he gave on state TV about the Guards’ military operations in the Gulf area.
Iranian media reports suggested that the vessel was providing fuel for U.S. Navy ships.
Reuters was not immediately able to contact Athe Nova’s registered owner. The ship’s manager did not immediately comment.
(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Menna Akaa El-Din in Cairo, Renee Malthezou in Athens and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Alex Richardson, Matthew Lewis and Cynthia Osterman)
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