Iranian navy ship Konarak 'sunk by friendly fire' from frigate
Iran naval vessel sunk by 'friendly fire' in Gulf of Oman
(about 2 hours later)
An Iranian navy "friendly fire" incident in which a ship was sunk has killed dozens of sailors, unofficial reports say.
One sailor has been killed and others have been wounded in a "friendly fire" incident involving two Iranian naval vessels, Iranian state TV has said.
Local journalists said the frigate Jamaran was testing a new anti-ship missile which locked onto and hit Konarak, a logistical ship.
A new anti-ship missile being tested by the frigate Jamaran hit the logistical ship Konarak. Initial reports said dozens of sailors were killed.
Semi-official Iranian news agency Fars said one sailor was killed and several others injured in a "naval exercise".
The accident happened during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz.
It described the incident on Sunday near the Strait of Hormuz as a "crash".
Iran's armed forces regularly hold exercises in the strategic waterway.
According to the unofficial reports, Jamaran - operated by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) - fired the missile prematurely before Konarak had time to sail away from a floating target it had towed to a designated position.
The "Konarak vessel was struck with a missile yesterday [Sunday] afternoon during a military exercise in the waters of Bandar-e Jask" off Iran's south coast, state TV said on its website.
Videos posted on social media show what are said to be injured sailors being transferred to ambulances.
"The vessel was hit after moving a practice target to its destination and not creating enough distance between itself and the target," it added.
In January, the IRGC mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane near the Iranian capital, Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.
The incident happened near the port of Jask, some 1,270km (790 miles) south-east of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman, state TV said.
The incident came at a time of heightened tension with the US. Shortly before, Iran had launched a missile strike on an Iraqi base hosting US forces after an American drone strike killed IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
The Jamaran and Konarak are said to belong to naval forces of the Iranian army.
These tensions have continued to rise in recent months. The US has accused Iran of "harassing" its naval ships in the Persian Gulf.
Iran said said it had increased patrols in the Gulf after the US Navy blocked the path of an Iranian vessel.
