Photo: Marine Traffic

The 50,000 DWT product tanker Pacific Zircon was struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman on Tuesday night. The ship is operated by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, a company ultimately owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.

In a statement, Eastern Pacific Shipping said the Pacific Zircon, carrying gas oil, had been “hit by a projectile” some 150 miles (240 kilometers) off the coast of Oman.

“We are in communication with the vessel and there are no reports of injuries or pollution. All crew are safe and accounted for,” the company said. “There is some minor damage to the vessel’s hull but no spillage of cargo or water ingress.”

The Washington Post reports that an Israeli official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss unpublicized details of the attack, said that it appeared Iran carried out the attack with a Shahed-136 exploding drone. Iran has supplied those drones to Russia, which has been using them to target infrastructure and civilian targets in Ukraine.
 
“It is an Iranian attack, there is a consensus on this in the Israeli intelligence and defense community,” the official said.

Iran’s government did not acknowledge the attack on the Pacific Zircon. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Self-detonating drone attacks oil tanker in Gulf of Oman, US says

Thanks to David Rye for contributing to this post.