The Singapore flagged 85-thousand ton Norman Atlantic stands ablaze 06 December 1987 after she was attacked by an Iranian warship in Omani territorial waters as it approached the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians attacked 2 tankers in the region killing one aboard the Danish tanker Estelle Maersk and setting the Singapore tanker Norman Atlantic ablaze. The Tanker War started properly in 1984 when Iraq attacked Iranian tankers and the vital oil terminal at Kharg island. Iran struck back by attacking tankers carrying Iraqi oil from Kuwait and then any tanker of the Gulf states supporting Iraq. The air and small boat attacks did very little to damage the economies of either country and the price of oil was never seriously affected as Iran just moved it's shipping port to Larak Island in the straights of Hormuz. AFP PHOTO NORBERT SCHILLER (Photo credit should read NORBERT SCHILLER/AFP via Getty Images)
