Drone Hits Israeli-Linked Tanker; Iran Frees 2 Greek Tankers

Two ships seen in the Arabian Sea. AP file photo
Two ships seen in the Arabian Sea. AP file photo
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Drone Hits Israeli-Linked Tanker; Iran Frees 2 Greek Tankers

Two ships seen in the Arabian Sea. AP file photo
Two ships seen in the Arabian Sea. AP file photo

An oil tanker associated with an Israeli billionaire has been struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman amid heightened tensions with Iran, officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Greece said Iran freed two Greek oil tankers held by Tehran since May. 

The drone attack on the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon happened Tuesday night off the coast of Oman, one Mideast-based defense official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss the attack publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. 

The Pacific Zircon is operated by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, which is a company ultimately owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. 

In a statement, Eastern Pacific Shipping said the Pacific Zircon, carrying gas oil, had been “hit by a projectile” some 150 miles (240 kilometers) off the coast of Oman. 

“We are in communication with the vessel and there is no reports of injuries or pollution. All crew are safe and accounted for,” the company said. “There is some minor damage to the vessel’s hull but no spillage of cargo or water ingress.” 

An Israeli official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss unpublicized details of the attack, said that it appeared Iran carried out the attack with a Shahed-136 exploding drone. Iran has supplied those drones to Russia, which has been using them to target infrastructure and civilian targets in Ukraine. 

“It is an Iranian attack, there is a consensus on this in the Israeli intelligence and defense community,” the official said. 

Iran's government did not acknowledge the attack on the Pacific Zircon. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The strike came hours after the US Navy announced it found 70 tons of a missile fuel component hidden among bags of fertilizer aboard a ship bound to Yemen from Iran, a major seizure potentially disrupting the Iranian-backed Houthis' ballistic missile program there. 

Oil prices rose slightly as news of the attack spread, with benchmark Brent crude trading above $94 a barrel. 

Later Wednesday, Greek officials said two of Greek oil tankers — Delta Poseidon and Prudent Warrior — had been freed, along with their sailors. 

Tracking data from MarineTraffic.com showed the vessels sailing away from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas where they had been held since May after being seized in a helicopter-borne raid by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. 

Their seizure came after Greece assisted the United States in attempting to seize oil days earlier from the Iranian-flagged tanker Lana to enforce American sanctions. 

“Today is a very pleasant day for our sailors, but also for Greece in general, since an unpleasant and particularly complex case came to an end, following systematic efforts by the Greek government,” Greek Shipping Minister Giannis Plakiotakis said in a statement. 

Iran's Foreign Ministry later acknowledged the release of the Greek tankers, saying that the ships and the Iranian vessel detained by Greece previously had all left for their destinations. 

While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack off the coast of Oman, suspicion immediately fell on Iran. Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels traveling around the region. 

The US also blamed Iran for a series of attacks occurring off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Tehran at the time had begun escalating its nuclear program following the unilateral US withdraw from Iran's atomic deal with world powers. 

In 2021, a suspected Iranian drone strike hit the Israeli-associated oil tanker Mercer Street off Oman, killing two people onboard. 

It wasn't immediately clear where the vessel was Wednesday. Satellite-tracking data from late Tuesday provided by MarineTraffic.com put the vessel deep in the Arabian Sea after leaving the Omani port of Sohar. 

Since the collapse of Iran's nuclear deal, nonproliferation experts warn the country now has enough enriched uranium to make at least one nuclear weapon if it chose, though Tehran insists its program is peaceful. 

Iran also has been lashing out at its perceived enemies abroad amid monthslong nationwide protests now challenging its theocracy. 

Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said the attack “does not come as a surprise.” 

“The risk of attacks against shipping and energy infrastructure in the wider region is rising mainly due to the lack of progress in US-Iranian nuclear diplomacy and the decision by the Washington to apply further sanctions pressure on Iran,” he said. “Since 2019, Iran has consistently responded to new US sanctions with covert military action in the region.” 

“There is not just an increasing risk of disruptive attacks against energy infrastructure in the region, but also a growing risk of a wider military confrontation with more serious consequences for world energy markets,” he added. 



Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.

Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day," he said.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pressing Australian and Japanese officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.

Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense".

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Shanghai at the start of a six-day visit to China that is likely to focus on security and trade, said Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan.

Conroy said Australia was concerned about China's military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates. He said China was seeking a military base in the Pacific, which was not in Australia's interest, Reuters reported.

'GOAL IS NO WAR'

Talisman Sabre, Australia's largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, opened on Sunday on Sydney Harbour and will involve 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain, France and Canada.

Conroy said China's navy might be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past.

The war games will span thousands of kilometers from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast, in a rehearsal of joint war fighting, said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defense Force.

The air, sea, land and space exercises over two weeks will "test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia", Jones told reporters.

"I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them. But for me... it is nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.

US Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said Talisman Sabre would improve the readiness of militaries to respond together and was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war".

"If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together and that is important because of the instability that is resident in the region," Vowell said.

The United States is Australia's major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the US military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have US Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia.