Two tankers were ablaze in an Iraqi port Thursday after being hit by suspected Iranian explosive-laden boats, a step up in attacks that have cut off oil from the Middle East and defied Donald Trump's claim to have won the war he launched two weeks ago.
Images verified by Reuters as having been filmed from the shore of the port of Basra showed ships engulfed in massive orange fireballs that lit up the night sky, after the attacks, which Iraqi authorities blamed on Iranian boats. At least one crew member was killed.
Hours earlier, three other ships had been struck in the Gulf. Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for at least one of those attacks, on a Thai bulk carrier that was set ablaze, which the Guards said had disobeyed their orders. Another container vessel reported being struck by an unknown projectile near the United Arab Emirates Thursday.
The war that began with a U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign at the end of February has so far killed around 2,000 people and caused what the International Energy Agency describes as the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history.
Undermining U.S. and Israeli claims to have knocked out much of Iran's stock of long-range weapons, more drones were reported Thursday flying into Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman. Lebanon's Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired its biggest volley of rockets into Israel during the war, prompting fresh Israeli strikes on Beirut.
