The incident took place some 60 miles from Jeddah early Friday, according to informed sources.
The explosions havereportedly hit the vessels hull, causing heavy damages to the vessels two main tanks, which has resulted in an oil spill in the Red Sea. The spill is currently stopped, according to officials.
Technical experts are currently investigating the cause of the explosion. They believe it was a "terrorist attack", unnamed sourced told the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).
A statement by NITC said the SABITI tanker was hit by two separate explosions at 5:00 and 5:20 am Friday, probably after being struck by missiles.
It said the crew members are currently safe and none of them has been harmed in the explosions. The tanker is currently in a stable condition, the statement added.
The NITC later dismissed the reports that the vessel hadcaught fire, according to the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum's official news agency SHANA.
The USNavys Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet has announcedit is aware of media reports about theblast but has no further information so far.
We are aware of the reports but we dont have any further information, a spokesman said.
The explosions came a few months after Iranian oil tanker Happiness-1 faced engine failure and lost its control with 26 on board off the Red Sea port of Jeddah, and was later transferred to the port city for maintenance.
According to Iranian officials,the incident had occurred on April 30 while Happiness I was on its way to the Suez Canal, and that water had leaked into the tankers engine room.
The Saudis refused to let the vessel leaveand demanded that Iran pay $200,000 a day for maintaining the vessel in the port, some $10 million in total. It was finally released on July 20 and returned home.
Also in June, two large tankers were hit by explosions in the Sea of Oman. The Marshal Islands-flagged Front Altair and the Panama-flagged Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman.
At that time, Iranian rescue workers rushed to the assistance of two tankers hit by the unspecified accidents in the Sea of Oman, transferring all of their 44 crew members to its southern shores.
The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker was, according to reports, heading from Qatar to Taiwan when a fire broke out on the tanker approximately 25 miles from Irans Jask port city.
The Panama-flagged ship was also en route from a port in Saudi Arabia towards Singapore when a fire broke out approximately 28 miles from Jask.
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