Professor Lawrence Brennan was consulted by Business Insider about the potential outcomes of the recent attempt by three Iranian gunboats to seize an unloaded British oil tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Lawrence Brennan, a former US Navy captain and a professor of Maritime Law at Fordham University, told Business Insider that an unladen tanker could easily ignite if fired on.
“Had Iran’s boats fired on MT BRITISH HERITAGE it could have caused a major catastrophe if the empty tanker’s cargo tanks were filled with flammable vapors,” Brennan wrote to Business Insider. While there is a way to bleed empty tankers of flammable gasses, Brennan said there’s no publicly available information to indicate they had done so.
“A breach of the tanker’s cargo tanks and hull probably would have caused the inert gas to escape but allowed the petroleum vapor to remain within the explosive range. That could have caused death, injury, property and environmental damage.” Brennan continued.
“Moreover, a drifting and burning tanker could have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz and blocked all traffic in and out of the waters. This would have resulted in billions of dollars of losses and delays,” Brennan wrote.