The two photos, provided by a Western defense official, show a hole in what appears to be the fuselage of the Liberian-flagged tanker, which is owned by Singapore and is linked to Israel, as well as what appears to be the wreckage of a drone.
CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the images.
On Wednesday, US and Israeli officials pointed the finger at Iran, saying the attack was carried out by a Shahed 136 drone similar to the Iranian-made suicide planes Russia is using in Ukraine.
And the US Central Command said, on Wednesday, that an Iranian-made “Shahid” drone launched, earlier in the day, an attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman.
And the US Central Command added, in a statement, that although the ship was damaged as a result of the attack, there were no injuries, and it continued that the analysis of the wreckage of the march revealed that it was a “witness” model.
The US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, said earlier on Wednesday that Iran was “most likely” behind the attack, and added that the United States condemned the attack in “the strongest terms.”
Sullivan said, in a statement, that the ship was transiting in international waters off the coast of Oman, and “upon review of available information, we are confident that Iran likely carried out this attack using a drone, a deadly tool that it is using in an increasingly unmanned manner.” Directly and through its agents throughout the Middle East and Russia is using it in Ukraine.”
This comes after the Eastern Pacific Shipping Company said in a statement that one of its commercial ships carrying a cargo of gas oil, called the Pacific Zircon, was hit by a missile 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) off the coast of Oman, on Tuesday.
