The United Arab Emirates has rescued 22 crew members from a cargo ship that caught fire in the Gulf of Oman, hours after Iran's Revolutionary Guard said two oil tankers had struck naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest burst of danger for shipping in one of the world's most important waterways.
The UAE National Guard said on Sunday that its Coast Guard Group had received a distress report from the crew of the cargo ship and immediately sent specialised teams to the scene. The teams located the vessel, reached it and brought all 22 people to safety, giving them first aid before handing them over to the relevant authorities. All of those rescued were reported to be in stable health, and all were Arab nationals.
The National Guard did not name the ship, say what flag it sailed under, or give a cause for the fire. In a statement posted on X, it said the operation showed its readiness to respond to maritime emergencies and protect lives at sea. The rescue came a day after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said it had received a report on Saturday of an incident involving a bulk carrier and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, east of Khor Fakkan in the UAE.
The fire followed a separate and more alarming claim from Iran late on Saturday. The navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said two oil tankers had caught fire after striking naval mines in and near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil passes. According to the Guard, one tanker struck mines east of the strait and the other while crossing the waterway itself.
The Revolutionary Guard said both tankers had switched off their navigation and positioning systems and had tried to cross through routes it described as unauthorised. It warned that vessels cooperating with the US military and entering areas it considers off-limits would risk hitting mines. The claims have not been independently verified, and no details have been released about the tankers' names, flags, crews or the scale of any damage.
The two incidents landed on the same weekend that the United States moved to tighten its months-long naval blockade of Iran. US Central Command said on Saturday that American forces had disabled the St Kitts-flagged cargo vessel M/V Huda in the Gulf of Oman after its civilian crew ignored repeated warnings and tried to breach the blockade, and it announced a new unit, Task Force Iron Gate, to stop Iran using land routes and the Caspian Sea to move weapons and other banned goods.
The backdrop is an eight-month war that began when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February, and which has turned the waters around the Strait of Hormuz into a zone of repeated attacks on merchant shipping. Iran's state media also reported the sound of explosions on Qeshm Island in the strait and in the cities of Jask, Sirik and Bandar Abbas on Saturday, without an official explanation, while President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that American forces had carried out what he described as minor strikes.
For the UAE, Sunday's rescue was the second of its kind in less than a month. On 10 October, the National Guard's Coast Guard Division pulled 22 Asian seafarers out of a burning oil tanker in the Arabian Gulf after a distress call, in an operation that followed the same pattern: locate the vessel, evacuate everyone on board, give first aid and hand the crew to the authorities.
The shipping danger is already spilling into everyday travel and trade in the Gulf. Etihad Airways has cancelled all passenger and cargo flights between Abu Dhabi and Dammam and Riyadh until 19 November, while its services to Jeddah have resumed, and other Gulf carriers have been adjusting schedules as tensions around the strait continue. Gulf states have been pressing for a diplomatic way out, and Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he had spoken by telephone with the foreign ministers of 12 countries over 48 hours.
What happens next depends on whether the mine claims are confirmed and whether more ships are hit. If tankers keep striking mines in the strait, insurers and shipping companies will face higher costs and harder choices about routing, and the risk of a wider clash at sea will grow. If the incidents prove isolated, the focus will return to the blockade and the diplomacy around it, with Qatar mediating between Washington and Tehran and both sides still far apart on the core questions. For now, the rescue of 22 sailors is the one clear piece of good news from a weekend in which the Gulf's waters grew more dangerous still.
