A video showing two oil tankers on fire after an Iranian attack has begun circulating on social media as the price of a barrel of oil continues to surge amid the war in the Middle East.
According to a report by The New York Post, the attack left at least one person dead. According to Reuters, the ships were stopped near Iraq in the Persian Gulf when they were hit by Iranian kamikaze boats loaded with explosives.
The oil tankers were transporting up to 400,000 barrels of Iraqi oil, according to the website TankerTrackers.com. After the attack, Farhan al Fartousi, director-general of the Iraqi Ports Company, told CNN that the 38 foreign crew members had to be rescued from the damaged ships after the “explosions.”
The ships were identified as Safesea Vishnu, sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, and Zefyros, which was flying the Maltese flag. The owner of Safesea Vishnu is the U.S.-based company Safesea Transport Inc., while Zefyros is owned by a company in Greece.
Oil prices surged this week amid supply chain concerns related to the war with Iran, which began with the operation Epic Fury, orchestrated by the U.S. and Israel to kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at his residence in Tehran on February 28.
This is because, on a typical day, about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz near Iran. The Iranian regime has vowed to prevent tankers from passing through the strait in an attempt to pressure the global economy.
Photo and video: Creative Commons / X @SaadoonMustafa. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
حريق كبير في ناقلة نفط قرب ميناء أم قصر جنوبي العراق. ترجيحات بأن النيران ناتجة عن استهداف مباشر للناقلة. pic.twitter.com/sc2rnsk8vd
— MUSTAFA SAADOON (@SaadoonMustafa) March 11, 2026
