Explosions Hit Oil Tankers Off Iraqi Coast; Rescue Teams Save 25 Sailors

Two foreign-crewed Iraqi oil tankers were struck by explosions in Iraqi territorial waters on Thursday, igniting fires onboard, according to a port official cited by Reuters.

Farhan Muhssin al-Fartousi, the director general of the state-owned General Company for Ports of Iraq confirmed that Iraqi rescue teams saved 25 sailors from one of the burning vessels, while search and rescue operations continue at the site. 

Video footage shows the evacuation of crew members from the burning ship off the Faw Coast.

Audio recordings obtained by network 964 captured distressed communications between Iraqi sailors during the rescue operation. Reports indicate that some crew members remain missing, and another vessel in the same area may also have been hit, with smoke columns visible despite limited night-time visibility.

Videos taken by Basra-based sailors show flames towering from a tanker loaded with crude oil, while oil slicks spread across nearby waters of the Persian Gulf, near the shared Iraq-Iran maritime corridor.

Port officials suggest that the affected vessels were likely carrying Iraqi crude, marking the first incident of this scale in Iraqi waters adjacent to Iran.

Eyewitnesses described massive explosions off the Faw coast, speculating that the fireball in the middle of the sea resulted from an attack on a tanker carrying crude oil or petroleum products. Successive blasts were reportedly heard along the Iraqi shoreline.

The attack comes amid heightened tensions in the Gulf, affecting oil exports from multiple countries, including Iraq, Iran, and Oman. Analysts warn that such incidents could further disrupt global oil shipments and exacerbate volatility in energy markets already under pressure from geopolitical crises.