Small Boat Attached Limpet Mines to Tanker Off Oman, UK Maritime Agency Says; Iran Claims It Destroyed US Unmanned Vessel

Since the US-Iran war began in February, the Strait of Hormuz has gone from a contested shipping lane to a rolling series of ship fires, mine claims and counterclaims. The latest incident adds a different weapon to the list.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said Friday, Oct. 30, that a small boat approached the port side of a tanker on Thursday and attached two explosive devices to the hull above the waterline. The incident happened about 25 nautical miles (46 km) northeast of Khasab, Oman.

The devices started a fire in the engine room and temporarily disabled the ship. The agency said the fire was put out, the crew was safe, there was no environmental damage, and the vessel was continuing to its next port of call.

Limpet mines, not drifting sea mines

Three maritime security sources identified the ship as the Panama-flagged Louise 1 and said the devices were limpet mines. Two of those sources said it is the first known successful limpet-mine attack in the area since the war started. A similar attempt in September failed when the devices did not detonate, they said.

Limpet mines are attached directly to a hull. Sea mines sit in the water and detonate when a ship passes over or near them. The distinction points to a boat operating alongside moving traffic, not a minefield.

"The apparent ability of a small craft to approach a transiting tanker, deploy explosive devices and withdraw presents a significant security concern, particularly in the Strait's congested shipping lanes," the Greece-based risk firm Marisks said Friday. It added that limpet mines are "cheap and easily available" and were used against tankers in the region as far back as 2017.

No one has claimed responsibility, and it is not clear who was behind the attack. The Louise 1's Panama-based operator, listed in shipping databases as Aquarius Maritime Ventures, could not be reached for comment.

The ship has a history. Ukraine's SBU security service said its naval drones hit the Louise 1 in the Black Sea in July over its role in carrying Russian oil as part of Moscow's shadow fleet.

Iran's competing claims

The IRGC Navy said Thursday that three tankers struck sea mines, exploded and caught fire while trying to leave the strait by a southern route it called unauthorized. On Friday it said two more oil tankers that had switched off their tracking systems sustained damage and caught fire after striking naval mines east of the strait.

It is unclear whether the Louise 1 was one of the vessels Iran described. The UKMTO advisory describes explosives attached to the hull, not a ship hitting a mine.

The IRGC put responsibility on the shipowners. "The owners of the oil tankers shall bear full responsibility for all consequences resulting from this unauthorized transit and the disregard for safety and maritime warnings," its statement said.

Iran's navy also said Friday that it destroyed a US unmanned vessel in the eastern Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state media. The US military has not confirmed that.

Who controls the lane

The dispute over routes sits underneath all of this. Iran runs its own transit corridor inside its territorial waters and charges tolls and safety fees administered by the IRGC. Washington and the International Maritime Organization reject that arrangement as inconsistent with international maritime law.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the only approved route is the traffic separation scheme adopted in 1968. "The information that we have is that they still have mines," he told Fox News Digital, adding that with the conflict ongoing it is hard to use third parties to verify the lane is clear. "We cannot guarantee that a vessel that intends to transit that route will not be hit by a mine."

The US has kept a naval blockade on Iranian ports since July. US Central Command said that as of Oct. 17 it had redirected 138 commercial vessels. Washington also says any deal must address Iran's nuclear program from the outset.

Oil and diplomacy

Brent crude was quoted around $117.60 a barrel in early deals Friday, up about 2.3%, according to a price feed. Those are indications ahead of the 9:30 a.m. ET US stock open, not regular-session trades.

On the diplomatic track, Iran said earlier this month it had passed Washington a "concrete seven-day plan" through Qatar, under which the strait would reopen within seven days if Tehran's conditions were met. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said those conditions were nothing beyond the Islamabad memorandum of understanding signed in June.

Several questions remain unanswered. The attackers on the Louise 1 are unidentified. The US has not confirmed or denied the loss of an unmanned vessel. And no one has said whether the ships Iran says hit mines are the same ones that UKMTO and the security sources describe.