DUBAI (The Thursday Times) — Iran has attacked ship navigation systems on Didamar, a small Omani island in the Strait of Hormuz, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, confirming a strike that Tehran claimed a day earlier.
The sources did not say how much damage was done, and it could not be independently established whether any of the navigation systems were destroyed.
Didamar, also known as Little Quoin Island, lies off the tip of Oman’s Musandam peninsula, next to the southern shipping lane through the strait. It has a lighthouse dating from 1914, along with radar and radio equipment used to track vessels and coordinate traffic.
Iran says the island helped ‘unauthorised’ ships
Iranian state media reported on Tuesday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had carried out strikes that destroyed “enemy navigation systems” on the island. Iran’s military said personnel there had been helping what it called the enemy’s oil smuggling, and Tehran treats ships using the southern corridor near the Omani coast as unauthorised.
Video footage showed smoke rising from the island, though it was not clear what was burning, and imagery from the EU’s Copernicus satellite programme showed thermal activity there. On Tuesday, a senior Omani official had said the island’s navigation aids had not been hit.
Oman has tried to stay neutral in the conflict, and its navy has repeatedly rescued crews from ships attacked in the strait. Oman’s media ministry and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Limited effect on shipping expected
Two shipping sources and a maritime security source said the attack would probably have only a limited effect on commercial traffic, because other navigation systems are in place elsewhere.
The strike comes as Gulf exporters work around the disruption. Large tankers have been ferrying crude from Gulf ports to ship-to-ship transfer points off Oman’s Sohar and the UAE’s Fujairah, and Saudi Arabia has raised exports through its Red Sea port of Yanbu, as its oil output climbs to the highest since the war began.
Iran has said the strait will stay shut until the United States meets seven conditions, and this week a tanker caught fire after hitting a mine in the waterway.
