Iraq halts operations across the country's oil ports after one killed in Basra port attack

An attack on Iraq's Basra port killed at least one person and forced authorities to halt operations at all the country's oil terminals, officials said Thursday.

Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, made the announcement in a statement carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency. Al-Fartousi said the attack targeted a vessel in a ship-to-ship transfer area at the Basra port on the Persian Gulf.

He said it remained unclear if the ship was targeted by a flying or seaborne drone or a missile.


Rescuers recovered one dead body and helped 38 others after the attack.

He said commercial ports in Iraq remained open, though the oil terminals had been shut.

It marked the latest oil infrastructure to be targeted in the Iran war.