Several merchant vessels in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman were hit by disabling fire during overnight military activity, the UKMTO (maritime incident monitoring agency) said on Wednesday. The British navy-affiliated agency could not confirm casualties or environmental damage. UKMTO separately reported a vessel listing at anchor 24 nautical miles from Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates, possibly after taking on water from an attack by an unknown projectile. The incident followed a U.S. Central Command operation on Tuesday in which five Iranian crude oil tankers were destroyed after attempted missile attacks on a U.S. Navy warship over the preceding two days. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that they had attacked two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers in the Gulf in response, saying the 10 vessels had attempted to enter an area of the Strait of Hormuz they considered prohibited and unsafe.