Two Tankers Set Ablaze in Hormuz, Indian Sailor Killed
Iran fired cruise missiles at two oil tankers, the Mombasa and the Al Bahiyah, in Omani waters at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, setting both ablaze, according to the United Arab Emirates. One Indian crewman was killed and around six to eight others, mostly Indian, were injured; the fires have since been put out. Traffic through the strait has all but collapsed, with maritime trackers counting a handful of crossings against dozens a week earlier, as owners refuse to risk the passage.
The strike on the tankers is the human face of a crisis usually measured in barrels and percentages: the crews who move the world’s trade are the first to pay, and an Indian sailor is dead for having been aboard a ship in the wrong stretch of water. It also punctures the competing claims about whether Hormuz is open or closed — whatever Washington and Tehran assert, owners are voting with their hulls and staying away, which is a closure in all but name and the real driver of the oil price. India, whose nationals crew a large share of the world’s merchant fleet, now has citizens killed and wounded in a war it is not party to, and will press both sides for their safety. Watch the war-risk insurance market, whether any navy moves to escort tankers through, and the toll on the crews still caught inside the Gulf.