A crew member is missing after a Greek-managed product tanker was hit by what is believed to have been a missile deep inside the Arabian Gulf, the latest sign that attacks on merchant ships are spreading beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
The attack
- Ship: Velos Sapphire, a Marshall Islands-flagged, 74,998 dwt product tanker built in 2007 and managed by Velos Tankers of Athens
- Location: about 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar
- Voyage: left Fujairah on 3 November, bound for Sitra, Bahrain
- What happened: UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) first reported two unidentified projectiles hitting a tanker at 23:20 UTC. The operator later reported an explosion on the aft port side.
- Damage: the IMO recorded damage, no pollution and one seafarer missing. A fire broke out but was put out.
Maritime security sources have said the missing crew member was killed; the IMO has not confirmed a death. Tracking data showed the ship slowing sharply around the time of the strike, then picking up speed again towards Bahrain, suggesting it still had propulsion.
Iran’s Hormuz blacklist changes
The Velos Sapphire is not on Iran’s list of ships it accuses of breaking its transit rules, although a sister ship, the Velos Amber, is. No link has been shown between the list and the attack.
Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) has removed two US-sanctioned LPG carriers from the list and added a Turkish-owned, Panama-flagged chemical and products tanker. That leaves 239 ships on the list, compared with 77 in September. The authority has threatened listed ships with fines, detention or confiscation. Washington, for its part, has sanctioned the PGSA itself and warned that using its services could expose shipping companies to sanctions.
Wider threat picture
- The Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC) counted four attacks in the strait off Oman’s Musandam peninsula between 1 and 3 November, plus two more inside the Gulf, and still rates the threat as severe.
- Traffic through Hormuz is running at about nine commercial crossings a day, roughly a tenth of the pre-conflict level of around 85.
- The US has asked Iran at the IMO to identify mine locations in the strait. Iran has claimed incidents involving five tankers and a tugboat, which have not been independently verified.
- South Korea plans to extend its naval unit’s area of operations towards southern Oman, subject to parliamentary approval.
- The foreign ministers of Oman and Iran discussed arrangements for restoring free navigation, but no reopening deal has been announced.
According to the IMO, there have been 129 confirmed maritime incidents in the region and 24 seafarer deaths since the conflict began.
Based on reporting by Splash247, 6 November 2026.
Photo: Representative image: a tanker at sea (not the Velos Sapphire). ImagePerson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
