Two oil tankers have been damaged after being hit by explosives off the coast of the United Arab Emirates near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian news agency IRNA is reporting that the Front Altair oil tanker has sunk after being damaged in an incident in the Gulf of Oman.
Frontline has denied such reports.
Forty-four sailors and crew members have been rescued by Iran's navy from two tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
READ MORE: Oil price surges after blasts on tankers in Middle East
According to reports, the tankers in distress were the Marshal Islands-flagged Front Altair and the Panama-flagged Kokuka Courageous.
The Royal Navy has said that it was aware of an incident.
CNN reports that the US naval forces in the area said that it had received two separate distress calls on Thursday morning and that US Navy ships were rendering assistance.
Oil tanker, Front Altair (L), believed to have "being hit by a torpedo" in the Gulf of Oman, according to Taiwan's state oil refiner.
— Tom Boadle (@TomBoadle) June 13, 2019
Oil tanker, Kokuka Courageous (R), is also believed to have sustained damage to its starboard hull, according to its management co. pic.twitter.com/Ea5hgn65ui
"We are aware of the reported attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman. US Naval Forces in the region received two separate distress calls at 6:12 a.m. local (Bahrain) time and a second one at 7:00 a.m. US Navy ships are in the area and are rendering assistance."
Iran has continually denied any knowledge stating they did not instruct any surrogate forces to attack Gulf shipping or Saudi oil installations.
Oil prices jumped as much as 4% on Thursday after a suspected attack on two tankers.
On Wednesday, after talks with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, Mr Abe warned that any “accidental conflict” that could be sparked amid the heightened US-Iran tensions must be avoided.
His message came just hours after Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi airport, striking its arrivals hall before dawn and wounding 26 people.
Mr Abe met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday, the second and final day of his visit.
READ MORE: Oil prices rise amid Middle East tensions
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, a top government spokesman, told reporters that Mr Abe’s trip was intended to help de-escalate tensions in the Middle East – but not specifically mediate between Tehran and Washington.
His remarks were apparently meant to downplay and lower expectations amid uncertain prospects for Mr Abe’s mission.
Western powers feared Iran’s atomic programme could allow it to build nuclear weapons, although Iran has long insisted its programme was for peaceful purposes.
In withdrawing from the deal last year, US President Donald Trump pointed to the accord not limiting Iran’s ballistic missile programme and not addressing what American officials describe as Tehran’s malign influence across the wider Middle East.
Those who struck the deal at the time described it as a building block towards further negotiations with Iran, whose Islamic government has had a tense relationship with America since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran and subsequent hostage crisis.
Already, Iran says it quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium.
Meanwhile, US sanctions have cut off opportunities for Iran to trade its excess uranium and heavy water abroad, putting Tehran on course to violate terms of the nuclear deal regardless.
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