British Military Says Ship Ablaze in Strait of Hormuz Near Coast of Oman

DUBAI - A ship caught fire early Monday, July 20, in the Strait of Hormuz near the coastline of Oman, the British military said, in the latest incident to strike commercial shipping in the vital waterway amid the escalating conflict between the United States and Iran.

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre issued a warning about the blaze, saying it was unclear what had sparked the fire. The report offered no immediate details on casualties, the vessel's identity, or the extent of the damage.

A Waterway Under Fire

The US military has been encouraging ships to use a route near Oman to transit the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. Iran has responded with attacks targeting those vessels, insisting it must have control over the crucial chokepoint. Shipping traffic through the strait has largely stalled since last month's interim deal, meant to permanently end the fighting, crumbled.

The UKMTO report came as the United States began a new round of airstrikes early Monday targeting Iran, after announcing the death of another American service member. "The strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz," US Central Command said in a statement.

Conflict Widening Across the Region

Step by step, the United States and Iran have inched closer to all-out war as the interim agreement has unravelled. Iran has retaliated by striking US-allied countries throughout the Middle East. Early Monday, Iran fired missiles toward Jordan that risked widening the conflict into neighbouring Israel, while Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait again activated their air defences against incoming Iranian drones and missiles.

Israel warned that missiles launched toward Jordan could cause fallout to spill over into Israeli territory for the first time in weeks. Iran, meanwhile, said a nuclear site under construction had been hit in the latest US strikes. Footage released by the US military appeared to show strikes carried out by fighter jets and by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the sea, with one target site appearing to be in a valley of a mountainous region where Iran's Revolutionary Guard is known to tuck away missile bases and other military equipment.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to target Iran's power stations and bridges in an effort to compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the strait. The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi, has accused Iran of war crimes over its strikes on infrastructure and civilian facilities across the region.