A tanker has been hit by "multiple projectiles" in the Persian Gulf, about 94 kilometres (51 nautical miles) north of Madinat ash Shamal on Qatar's northern coast, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said. The agency reported casualties but did not say how many people were killed or injured, and said authorities were investigating. Qatar, in whose exclusive economic zone the incident took place, has not commented.

Maritime intelligence firm Vanguard identified the vessel as the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged oil and chemical tanker Acers, which had been reported sailing towards the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. UKMTO itself did not specify the ship's origin or identity. Separately, Vanguard corrected an earlier report of a fire aboard another tanker, the Marshall Islands-flagged Dhalkut, off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, saying there were no indications a fire had occurred.

The attack is unusual because it took place deep inside the Gulf. Most strikes have occurred in or near the Strait of Hormuz. Martin Kelly of EOS Risk Group said it was the first reported attack on a ship this far west of the strait since 9 September, when two sailors were killed on the Panama-flagged tanker El Gaia. The Maritime Executive, a shipping trade publication, described it as the first reported attack on a tanker in the western Gulf in weeks.

Merchant shipping has been under repeated threat since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February. The UN's International Maritime Organization counts at least 24 seafarers killed in 93 confirmed incidents. Iran effectively closed the strait with missile and drone attacks, while the United States maintains a blockade of Iranian ports. A preliminary deal in June to end the war and reopen the waterway collapsed within weeks after attacks on shipping resumed and the blockade was reinstated. Iran has said it will not give up some control over the strait and has targeted vessels using a southern route through Omani waters. UKMTO said this month there had been nine attacks on tankers in the strait, half of the September total for the strait and the Gulf combined.

The strait normally carries about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments, so the stakes extend well beyond the region. Despite the attacks, and with the US military escorting tankers, exports have recovered strongly. Kpler data cited by the sources show Middle East crude exports averaging around pre-war levels, with a seven-day average of 18.3 million barrels per day on 30 September, compared with about 18 million before the war. Analysts are questioning whether that recovery can be sustained if attacks spread further into the Gulf.