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Oman said Monday that it is working to contain an oil spill off its southern coast after a tanker ran aground in June inside a protected marine area, triggering calls for action by environmentalists.It follows an investigation by AFP that found the ship had been stranded for weeks near al-Qibliyyah island after it was rocked by explosions.The ship has been identified as the Caroline Bezengi.The Oman Environment Authority said Monday that the ongoing spill had affected roughly 390sq km, according to its most recent analysis.The slick was concentrated around Oman's Hallaniyat archipelago off the country's southern coast, where a marine reserve was established last year to protect sensitive ecosystems home to diverse marine life, including rare sea turtles.The country's environment authority said rapid action is needed to protect the area's biodiversity, including "coral reefs, turtle nesting areas, marine habitats and coastal areas of ecological importance".A report in the state-backed Oman News Agency quoted an official with the transport ministry as saying that authorities were conducting aerial surveillance and had deployed divers.The official said authorities are in the early stages of developing a plan to transfer the vessel's oil cargo "to reduce the risks arising from the incident, ensure navigational safety and protect the marine environment".A spill of this scale requires dispersant be sprayed across the affected area by aircraft and the use of booms and other equipment to collect the oil before it reaches the shore or sinks to the sea floor, said Tony Gutierrez, professor of environmental microbiology and biotechnology at Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University."If this oil is kept offshore, the impact will be much less than if the oil reaches shallower waters and the actual coastline," he said, citing the impact on diverse marine life such as coral, birds and fish."You could find oil still there years later. And that's what happened with Exxon Valdez,” Gutierrez said.“Ten years down the line, there still were remnants of oil," he said, referring to a 1989 spill in Alaska.Omani authorities have not yet identified the cause of the spill.However, British maritime security company Vanguard told AFP last week that the tanker was rocked by explosions in early June as it sailed off the coast of Yemen, causing water to enter several sections of the vessel.Advocacy groups Greenpeace and PAX told AFP that the spill was on the verge of causing an "environmental disaster", saying the tanker was carrying around 1mn barrels of crude.Last week Greenpeace estimated the slick at around 600sq km, citing analysis of satellite imagery.An analysis by Reuters of satellite imagery and shipping specialists showed the spill from the stranded 274m (900’) tanker was still spreading at the end of last month, raising concern about possible environmental damage.The Caroline Bezengi loaded at Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in April and passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows.Built in 2001, it is part of the so-called shadow fleet of older oil tankers used by Russia which lack Western insurance cover and sail under the flags of various nations to obscure their true ownership.It was listed on public shipping databases as flying the Cameroon flag but was among 39 vessels de-listed from Cameroon’s ship registry in June.The ship is subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union, Ukraine, the UK, Canada and Switzerland.Its registered owner is Rentoor Shipmanagement Ltd and its manager is Villar Shipmanagement Ltd, according to LSEG data.Reuters could not immediately reach those firms, which appear to be based in China.Tankers have been frequently targeted in the Gulf region over recent months as the US exchanged fire with Iran and its allied proxies. 

Qatar strongly condemned the Iranian attack that targeted an Emirati tanker operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which was struck by two drones while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as a blatant violation of international law and the principle of freedom of maritime navigation, as well as a flagrant breach of Security Council Resolution No. 2817.In a statement Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Qatar's categorical rejection of using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of pressure, calling for its unconditional reopening and affirming that freedom of navigation in this vital waterway is a firmly established principle that must not be compromised. It added that the continued closure of the Strait would jeopardise the vital interests of countries in the region.The ministry stressed the need to halt unjustified Iranian attacks on the property of fraternal states, reaffirming Qatar's full solidarity with the UAE and its support for all measures it may take to safeguard its assets.Meanwhile, the UAE Ministry of Defence announced that air defense systems were responding to missile and drone attacks fired from Iran. It added that four cruise missiles were also detected coming from Iran, while three Indian nationals were injured in the attacks. 

The UAE on Monday strongly condemned an Iranian drone attack on an ADNOC oil tanker in the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, as the US was due to start guiding ships through the waterway.Two drones hit the MV Barakah off the coast of Oman but no one was injured, according to ADNOC, the UAE state oil giant, adding that the ship was not loaded. "Targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps," the United Arab Emirates foreign ministry said.The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency earlier reported that projectiles struck a ship in the same area late on Sunday. The latest incident came as President Donald Trump said the US would start guiding ships through the vital waterway from Monday.The US and Iran remain deadlocked in peace negotiations since a ceasefire in the Middle East war came into effect on April 8. Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, and the United States has put in place a naval blockade in return.US Central Command said it would use guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms and 15,000 service members to guide ships through the Hormuz strait. As of April 29, more than 900 commercial vessels were located in the Gulf, according to maritime intelligence firm AXSMarine. There had been more than 1,100 at the start of the conflict.Oil prices have rocketed since the closure of the strait, which normally carries one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, threatening widespread economic damage.

The US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters Sunday, in what would be the second such operation this weekend ⁠and the third in less than ⁠a week if successful."The United States Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasion," a US official said. "It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order."Another official said the tanker was under sanctions, but added that it had not been boarded so far and that interceptions can take different forms – including sailing or flying close to vessels of concern.The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not give a specific location for the operation or name the vessel being pursued.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Last week US President Donald Trump announced a "blockade" of all oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving ⁠Venezuela.Trump's pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American nation.At least 100 people have been killed in the attacks.The first two oil tankers seized were operating on the black market and providing oil to countries under sanctions, Kevin Hassett, director of the White House's National Economic Council, said in a TV interview Sunday."And so I don't think that people need to be worried here in the US that the prices are going to go up because of these seizures of these ships," Hassett said on CBS's *Face the Nation programme. "There's just a couple of them, and they were black market ships."However, one oil trader told Reuters that the seizures may ⁠push oil prices slightly higher when Asian trading resumes today."We might see prices increasing modestly at the opening, considering market participants could see this as an escalation with more Venezuelan barrels at risk as the tanker was not on a US sanctions list," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.Another analyst said the seizures raise geopolitical risks and are likely to raise friction in the shadow fleet of vessels that move oil from sanctioned countries like Venezuela, Russia and Iran.The seizures could legitimise and encourage Ukraine to continue attacking Russian vessels and possibly encourage Europe to detain Moscow-linked dark fleet vessels as well, said Matias Togni, oil shipping analyst at NextBarrel.Venezuelan and Iranian oil output is already showing signs of slowing, Togni said, adding that he expects the same to happen with Russia.Oil from countries under sanctions is likely to be offered at steeper discounts as logistics become more expensive, which could help cap the gains in benchmark ⁠oil prices, he said.After the second US seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela, Caracas deemed it a "theft and kidnapping", saying that "those responsible for these serious events will answer to justice and to history for their criminal conduct”.That vessel, Centuries, is a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged oil tanker, according to TankerTrackers, an online service monitoring oil shipments and storage.It said that Centuries loaded 1.8mn barrels of crude oil at a Venezuelan port earlier this month before being escorted out of Venezuela's exclusive economic zone on December 18.The VesselFinder database also listed the ship's last recorded location as off the Venezuelan coast.An AFP review found that Centuries does not appear on the US Treasury Department's list of sanctioned companies and individuals.On December 10, US forces seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, which the attorney-general said was involved in carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran. 

Tanker driver Baba steeled himself for yet another perilous journey from Ivory Coast to Mali loaded up with desperately needed fuel — and fear. "You never know if you'll come back alive," he said. Even before they hit the road, the mere mention of a four-letter acronym is enough to scare Baba and his fellow drivers. The Al-Qaeda-linked group, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, declared two months ago that no tanker would cross into Mali from any neighbouring country. Hundreds of trucks carrying goods from the Ivorian economic hub Abidjan or the Senegalese capital Dakar have since been set on fire. The JNIM's strategy of economic militancy aims to choke off Mali's capital Bamako and the ruling military junta, which seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. The fuel blockade has made everyday life in the west African country all but impossible. "By economically strangling the country, the JNIM is looking to win popular support by accusing the military government of incompetence," Bakary Sambe from the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute think tank said. On top of that, Mali has a "structural problem of insecurity", he added. **media[382875]** Despite it all, dozens of tanker drivers still brave the roads, driven on by "necessity" and "patriotism", they say. AFP spoke to several along the more than 300-kilometre road between the northern Ivorian towns of Niakaramandougou and Tengrela, the last one before the Malian border. "We do it because we love our country," said Baba, whose name AFP changed out of security concerns. "We don't want Malians to be without fuel," added the 30-year-old in a Manchester United shirt. Taking a break parked up at Niakaramandougou, five hours from the border, Mamadou Diallo, 55, had a similar view. "If we die, it's for a good cause," he said. Further north at Kolia, Sidiki Dembele took a quick lunch with a colleague, their trucks lined up on the roadside, engines humming. "If the trucks stop, a whole country will be switched off," he said, between mouthfuls of rice. Two years ago, more than half of the oil products exported by Ivory Coast went to Mali. Malian trucks load up at Yamoussoukro or Abidjan and then cross the border via Tengrela or Pogo, travelling under military escort once inside Mali until their arrival in Bamako. Up to several hundred trucks can be escorted at a time, but even with the military by their side, convoys are still frequently targeted, especially on two key southern axes. "Two months ago, I saw militants burn two trucks. The drivers died. I was just behind them. Miraculously they let me through," said Moussa, 38, in an oil-stained red polo shirt. Bablen Sacko also narrowly escaped an ambush. "Apprentices died right behind us," he recalled, adding firmly: "Everyone has a role in building the country. Ours is to supply Mali with fuel. We do it out of patriotism." But their pride is mixed with bitterness over their working conditions. "No contract, no insurance, no pension. If you die, that's that. After your burial, you're forgotten," Sacko said. With monthly pay of barely 100,000 CFA francs ($175, 152 euros) and a small bonus of 50,000 CFA francs per trip, Yoro, one of the drivers, has called for a risk premium. Growing insecurity has prompted some Ivorian transport companies to halt road travel into Mali. In Boundiali, Broulaye Konate has grounded his 45-strong fleet. "I asked a driver to deliver fertiliser to Mali. He refused. The truck is still parked in Abidjan," he said. Ivorian trucker Souleymane Traore has been driving to Mali for seven years but said lately "you take to the road with fear in your heart". He recently counted 52 burnt-out tankers on his way back to Ivory Coast and another six on a further stretch of road. In response to the situation, the government signed an agreement with the drivers on Thursday, which includes provisions such as care for those injured as well as for the children of those killed. Malian Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga has referred to the fuel that manages to get through as "human blood", in recognition of the soldiers and drivers killed on the roads. Analyst Charlie Werb from Aldebaran Threat Consultants said he did not anticipate the fuel situation easing in the near future and said the political climate was uncertain. "I do not believe JNIM possesses the capability or intent to take Bamako at this time, though the threat it now poses to the city is unprecedented," he added.

At least three people were killed and 70 others injured when a tanker truck overturned, caught fire and exploded on a highway in southeastern Mexico City. Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said on X that 70 people were injured and three died, according to the preliminary toll. A preliminary list of those hospitalized was published and will be updated as medical assessments continue. The Mexico City Fire Department later stated that the fire inside and around the overturned tanker truck, which was transporting liquefied petroleum gas, had been completely extinguished. This is the second major highway accident in Mexico this week.