A commercial tanker reported hearing an explosion in close proximity to the vessel near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, though the ship and all crew members were confirmed safe, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said. The agency received the report from the vessel's master at 20:37 GMT, with the blast heard approximately 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman.

What the UKMTO Advisory Said

The UKMTO issued a formal advisory following the vessel master's report, urging all ships transiting the area to exercise heightened caution and report any suspicious activity to the agency. The advisory did not attribute the explosion to any party, and the cause remains unconfirmed.

This incident is the latest in a series of maritime security events that the UKMTO has recorded in recent days, most of them occurring off Oman's coast near the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint through which roughly 20% of global oil trade passes.

US-Iran Tensions in the Background

The explosion report comes as US-Iran tensions have sharply escalated. US President Donald Trump said on Sunday (Washington time) that negotiations with Iran would begin Monday afternoon, adding that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar had urged the United States to call off planned strikes because, in his words, 'they think there's a deal.'

'There's a deal on (the Strait of) Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearisation of Iran,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews. He also claimed that Iran itself had asked the US to pull back the planned strikes, saying 'now what we're doing is we're talking to them in the form of a negotiation.'

Regional Diplomacy Intensifies

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud spoke with Trump by telephone on Saturday, 'expressed concern and asked for clarity' about the proposed plan of action against Iran, according to a US official cited by news outlet Axios. Pakistan, Qatar, the UAE, Türkiye, and other nations have similarly called on both Washington and Tehran to de-escalate and avoid further conflict.

Notably, this is not the first time the Strait of Hormuz has become a flashpoint during periods of elevated US-Iran friction. Similar maritime incidents occurred during the 2019 tanker crisis, when multiple vessels were attacked or seized in the same waters, briefly disrupting global oil supply chains.

What Happens Next

With negotiations reportedly set to begin on Monday, the immediate focus shifts to whether diplomatic channels can hold. Any breakdown could place renewed pressure on shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz, with direct consequences for global energy markets and Indian crude imports, which are heavily routed through the waterway.