Two sailors are missing and 23 have been rescued after an attack on the oil tanker El Gaia in the Strait of Hormuz, Oman's Maritime Security Centre has said. The Panama-flagged vessel caught fire in its engine room and was being towed to an Omani port after being targeted near the Musandam peninsula. The incident is the latest in a series of attacks on shipping through the strategically vital waterway, which normally carries a fifth of global oil and gas shipments, amid the ongoing conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.

Accounts of the attack differ sharply: Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed the tanker struck naval mines while using an unsafe route, but the US military said this was false, insisting the vessel had been hit by an Iranian missile last month and again by a drone at the weekend. The International Maritime Organization says at least 22 seafarers have died in 79 confirmed incidents across the Strait of Hormuz and wider Middle East since the war began in late February. Separately, Iran reported "enemy drones" had hit two fishing boats near Kargan, with fishermen missing, while US Central Command said it had destroyed two Iranian boats attempting to seize a US sea drone. A June ceasefire deal between the US and Iran to reopen the strait collapsed within weeks.