Two oil tankers have collided in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical oil checkpoint just off the coast of Iran.
British maritime security monitor Ambrey said that the collision on Tuesday of the Adalynn and the Front Eagle is “not security-related,” despite the proximity of the accident to the war raging between Israel and Iran and concerns over its impact on navigation.
Shipping company Frontline said a fire was extinguished on the Front Eagle tanker, 15 nautical miles (28km) off the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coast. It added that no pollution had been detected.
The United Arab Emirates coastguard said it had evacuated 24 people from the Adalynn oil tanker.
The Front Eagle was loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil and was en route to Zhoushan in China, according to monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
The Adalynn, a Suezmax-class tanker owned by India-based Global Shipping Holding Ltd, had no cargo and was sailing towards the Suez Canal in Egypt, the monitoring service said.
National Guard Executes Evacuation of 24 People from Oil Tanker Following Collision Between Two Ships in the sea of Oman
The Coast Guard of the National Guard carried out today, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, an evacuation mission involving 24 crew members of the oil tanker ADALYNN,…
— الحرس الوطني (@Uaengc) June 17, 2025
The Hormuz Strait is the strategic maritime entryway to the Gulf, and about a fifth of the world’s oil passes through it, according to the United States Energy Information Administration.
However, as Israel and Iran engaged in massive air strikes against one another for a fifth day, maritime experts say shipowners are increasingly wary of using the waterway, with some ships having tightened security and others rerouting.
Commercial ship navigation systems have been experiencing electronic interference around the strait and wider Gulf region, according to naval sources.
The multinational, US-led Combined Maritime Force’s JMIC information centre said in an advisory this week that it had received reports of electronic interference stemming from the vicinity of Iran’s Port of Bandar Abbas.
Tehran has in the past threatened to close the strait to traffic in retaliation for Western pressure. Since the start of the open hostilities with Israel, Iranian officials have reiterated the possibility.
A wave of attacks on ships in the area has been attributed to Iran since 2019, following President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally withdraw the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Such a move would affect global energy markets, but would likely draw a swift response from the US. Tehran is believed to be keen to avoid direct confrontation with the US due to its limited military capacity.
Iran has not commented on the collision or the earlier reports of electronic interference.
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