The ministry said the tankers, the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, were struck while transiting the strait’s southern corridor in Omani territorial waters, triggering fires that crews later brought under control.
The sailor who was killed was serving aboard the Mombasa, the ministry said, while six Indian nationals and two Ukrainians were among the eight injured, with four reported to be seriously hurt.
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The UAE condemned the strike as a violation of international law and said it reserved the right to respond to what it called continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing an IRGC statement, said the Revolutionary Guard had struck two ‘offending’ super oil tankers. The IRGC’s Public Relations Office said the vessels had switched off their navigation systems and ignored repeated warnings from the Strait of Hormuz Security Control Centre before taking what it described as a ‘mined route.’
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India summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador, Mohammad Javad Hosseini, over the killing of an Indian national in Omani waters, an Indian government official said, with NDTV reporting the diplomat was called in to protest Iranian attacks on oil tankers. The meeting has concluded, with social media videos showing the diplomat leaving India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
Tuesday’s death adds to a toll that has fallen disproportionately on Indian seafarers since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28. The United Nations estimated last month that at least 14 seafarers had been killed in attacks in and around the strait, without breaking the figure down by nationality.
Of the incidents in which nationalities have been officially confirmed, however, Indian crew members account for the largest number of deaths at 9 out of the total 14.
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They include an Indian crew member killed on March 1 aboard the Marshall Islands-flagged MKD Vyom, an attack the US military blamed on Iranian forces, though no group claimed responsibility, two Indian sailors were killed the same day aboard the Palau-flagged Skylight near Oman’s Musandam Peninsula.
An Indian crew member was killed on March 12 when the Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu was attacked near Basra which was confirmed by the Indian Embassy in Iraq.
An Indian sailor was killed on May 8 when a dhow caught fire near the strait, in circumstances that remain unclear.
Three Indian crew members, named by India’s shipping ministry as Aditya Sharma, Shivanand Chaurasiya and Patnala Suresh — killed on June 9 when US forces struck the Settebello tanker, which Washington said had breached its blockade on Iranian ports.