ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Oman’s key cargo hub at the southern port of Salalah was targeted by two drones Saturday, injuring one person, with Muscat calling the attack “heinous” as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility, saying its forces struck a US “support vessel.” 

Omani state TV on early Saturday reported that the country’s southern Salalah Port was “targeted by two drones,” citing a security source, while adding that the attack caused minor damage to a crane and injured an expatriate worker at the port.

The Port of Salalah in southern Oman, on the Arabian Sea coast, is one of the Middle East’s largest and busiest ports. It serves as a key hub for cargo transshipment between continents.

The Sultanate of Oman later condemned the attack, calling it a “heinous” act and assuring its commitment to “take all necessary measures” to maintain the country’s security, according to a statement from the Omani government.

Shortly after, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters claimed that its forces targeted “a support vessel of the aggressor American army” early Saturday at the Port of Salalah in Oman, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

The IRGC added that “the national sovereignty of the brotherly and friendly country of Oman is respected by Islamic Iran,” with Muscat having repeatedly voiced its neutrality in regional conflicts and having served as the mediator for multiple rounds of US-Iran negotiations.

The IRGC on Friday warned people across the region to "urgently" evacuate areas where American forces are deployed to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

A US-Israeli campaign targeting the Iranian government's leadership and structural institutions in late February, which saw the assassination of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has thrown the Middle East into turmoil, as Iran has targeted what it dubs US interests in several regional countries in retaliation. 

Among the countries caught in the crossfire are Iraq, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Oman, though Tehran has denied involvement in the attacks on some of the countries mentioned. Israel and the US, meanwhile, have targeted Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Lebanon, including Hezbollah.

Several other major Gulf and regional countries, earlier in March, jointly called on Iran to “immediately” halt all of its attacks and warned of their right to defend themselves.