BAGHDAD (AP) – An Iraqi explosives handling team is working to neutralize a “large” mine discovered on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and to evacuate its crew, authorities said Friday.
The statement came a day after two private security companies said sailors feared they had found a limpet mine on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker in the waters off the Iraqi port of Basra. A sea snail mine is a type of naval mine attached to the side of a ship, usually by a diver member of special forces. It later explodes and can significantly damage a ship.
The Iraqi statement said the mine was attached to a tanker leased from Iraqi Oil Marketing Company SOMO that was refueling another vessel. Iraqi naval forces “made a major effort to complete the mission safely,” said the Iraqi Security Media Cell, which is affiliated with the country’s security forces.
It was the first official Iraqi confirmation that a mine had been discovered on an Iraqi tanker transferring fuel in the Persian Gulf to another ship. It did not identify either vessel or provide further details.
The discovery came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US in the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration.
America has already conducted B-52 bomber flyovers and sent a nuclear submarine into the Persian Gulf on what Trump officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the one-year anniversary of the US drones attack in Baghdad involving an Iranian top- general perished. and a prominent leader of the Iraqi militia.
Iraq is celebrating its anniversary this week with a series of events.
On Thursday, the United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an organization under the British Royal Navy, said on its website that an “unknown object” had been attached to a ship’s hull near the Iraqi port of Khor Al-Zubair, without providing further information.
The Pola serves as a floating fuel oil storage facility for the Iraqi state oil marketing organization, said Sudharsan Sarathy, a senior oil analyst with data analytics firm Refinitiv. Smaller ships transport the fuel oil to the vessel, which then performs ship-to-ship transfers in the Persian Gulf to customers.
Sarathy said the Pola was conducting a ship-to-ship transfer with the MT Nordic Freedom, a tanker sailing under Bermuda.
Friday’s statement said an explosives handling team from the Iraqi Interior Ministry was flown to the scene after a “foreign body” was attached to one of the ships in the holding area in Iraq’s international waters, 28 nautical miles from Iraqi. oil ports.
Despite high waves, the ship receiving the fuel was evacuated while the Iraqi team was still neutralizing the mine and evacuating the tanker, it said.
In 2019, the US blamed Iran for a series of sea slug mine attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s oil flows. Iran denies being involved.