The largest ship of the Iranian Navy has sunk after suffering a fire in the Gulf of Oman

Efforts to save the support ship Kharg, after hours of fighting a fire that broke out in one of the ship’s systems, were in vain, according to the Fars and Tasmin news agencies. The largest ship of the Iranian Navy sank after suffering a fire on board off the coast of Jask, located in the Gulf of Oman about 1,270 kilometers southeast of Tehran near the Strait of Hormuz, which gives access to the Persian Gulf The ship’s crew was evacuated before the ship sank. Rescuers fought for 20 hours after the sailors were evacuated to shore. Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg west of Jask. Satellites of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that detect fires from space identified a fire at the site shortly before the time reported by the Fars agency. name of the island that serves as the main oil terminal to Iran. Built in Great Britain and launched in 1977, it entered service with the Iranian navy in 1984 after lengthy negotiations that followed the Iranian Islamic Revolution.The Navy has detailed in a statement that the ship, which has been operational for more than four decades, had been sent to international waters a few days ago to participate in training exercises. The sinking is a new naval disaster for Iran. In 2020, 19 Iranian sailors were killed during maneuvers after a warship was hit by a missile. In April of the same year, Tehran announced that an Iranian ship, the Saviz, had been damaged in the Red Sea by an explosion of undetermined origin.The New York Times reported that the Saviz had been the target of an Israeli attack in retaliation for previous Iranian attacks on Israeli ships in the Caspian Sea, following a series of mysterious ship explosions in the Gulf of Oman, which They began in 2019. The US Navy later accused Iran of attacking the ships with limpet mines, timed explosives normally placed by divers in the ship’s hull, according to the AP. However, Iran denies having attacked the ships. although images released by the US Navy showed members of the Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded mine from a ship. The incidents came amid tensions between Washington and Tehran after then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the Iran nuclear deal, and the Iranian government announced a few days ago that its project to The Jask pipeline had been completed and the tanker had been transported by the pipeline to that port. The Kharg was one of the few ships in the Iranian Navy capable of supplying fuel to other ships at sea. It could also lift heavy goods and serve as a take-off platform for helicopters.For Iran, the goal is to export oil from Jask, which would save a few days of navigation and allow tankers to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which is in the center of the Strategic tensions between Iran and the United States, whose warships are present in the region. The Iranian navy patrols the Gulf of Oman and the high seas, while the Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary body, operates in the shallower waters of the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf.However, in recent months the Navy put into service a slightly larger commercial tanker, called Makran, converted to serve a similar function to that of the Kharg. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important and strategic maritime crossings in the world. where one fifth of the world’s oil exploitations circulate. In the Gulf of Oman, it is the Iranian Navy that handles all operations, through which 20% of all the world’s traded oil passes.