Qatar holds Iran "fully legally responsible" for an attack on a Qatari LNG tanker in the Strait of Hormuz that caused a fire in the engine room, and for "any resulting damages and consequences", a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
Al Rekkayat was one of two vessels reported to have been struck by missiles while transiting through the waterway on Monday night.
Majed Al Ansari said the incident "constitutes an unacceptable attack on the security and safety of international maritime navigation, the security of global energy supplies, and a grave and explicit violation of international law".
"We demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran immediately cease all practices that undermine regional security or threaten the safety of international maritime navigation, and refrain from endangering global energy supplies and the resources of the countries of the region in pursuit of narrow interests," the spokesman posted on X.
Qatar later said it had summoned Iran's deputy ambassador. Ibrahim bin Yusuf Fakhro, the head of protocol at Qatar's Foreign Ministry, handed a protest note to Iranian diplomat Mohsen Ghanei.
The attacks were the first to be reported in the strait since Iran began a week of funeral ceremonies on Friday for the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the Iran war. Qatar and Pakistan are acting as mediators in US-Iran negotiations for a deal to end the war.
Britain's maritime security agency said a tanker caught fire after being hit by a projectile east of Limah, in Oman, early on Tuesday. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said the tanker was struck on its port side while travelling south, about 15km east of Limah. No casualties or environmental damage have been reported.
"This is vessel Al Rekayyat, LNG vessel Al Rekayyat. We are being hit by drone on port side, top of engine room," the ship's captain said in a recorded radio call reviewed by Reuters. "Status: engine room fire and full of smoke. Unable to assess further damage."
The other vessel that was attacked was also hit off Oman's coast, according to UKMTO. Maritime security sources told Reuters it was a Saudi-flagged supertanker, believed to be the Wedyan.
Iran's state broadcaster, citing anonymous sources, said an oil tanker was targeted after it tried to cross "through the Omani route in the Strait of Hormuz with US Navy support".
It added that it was attacked "after ignoring repeated warnings".
In the post on X, Iranian broadcaster IRIB also reposted an earlier message to ships, warning them against using the southern route in Oman's waters.
US Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran has insisted that ships use the northern route, closer to its coast, to pass through the strait. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used maritime radio to warn ships at the weekend that "our missiles and drones are ready to fire at you", The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting from a recording it obtained.
Oil gained after the attacks, highlighting continued risks to traffic in the waterway. Brent rose towards $73 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was above $69. Prices fell by 30 per cent when the US and Iran agreed to a tentative ceasefire last month.
The reports stressed the risks to shipping around the strait, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about a fifth of global oil supplies normally pass. Commercial vessels have come under attack since the Iran war began in February, despite the interim agreement that included provisions for safe passage in the strait.
Indirect US-Iran talks ended last week without any public sign of headway being made towards a lasting peace, despite a 60-day ceasefire intended to create space for diplomacy following the US and Israeli strikes that started the conflict.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday Washington would either reach a deal with Tehran or "finish the job", renewing his threat of military action as Tehran projects defiance following the funeral of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Investors have been keeping a close eye on talks between the US and Iran over the fate of shipping through the strait.
