ISTANBUL: An empty oil tanker berthed at Iran’s principal oil export hub on Kharg Island was struck by US missiles for the second time in as many days, according to an Iranian provincial official on Friday.
Ehsan Jahanian, deputy governor of Bushehr Province for political and security affairs, told Iran’s Tasnim News Agency that two US missiles hit the Belma NI 22 tanker while it was docked at the strategically significant Kharg Island terminal.
Jahanian said the vessel’s cargo tanks were empty during the latest strike, preventing any immediate reports of an oil spill or fire.
He added that the same tanker had been targeted two days earlier in what Iranian authorities described as an effort to stop it from reaching and operating at the country’s most important crude oil export facility.
The official also reported that multiple locations in the southern province of Bushehr, including sites in Bushehr city and Dashti County, came under US attacks overnight between Thursday and Friday.
The renewed strikes come amid heightened military tensions between Washington and Tehran, with critical energy infrastructure increasingly becoming a focal point of the escalating confrontation. Iranian authorities have not released information on casualties or the extent of the damage caused by the latest attacks.
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