150 ships drop anchor in Middle East Gulf as US war on Iran escalates, data show

LONDON - At least 150 tankers including crude and liquefied natural gas vessels dropped anchor in open Gulf waters beyond the Strait of Hormuz and dozens more were stationary on the other side of the chokepoint, shipping data showed on Sunday, after U.S and Israeli strikes on Iran plunged the region into a new war.

The tankers were clustered in open waters off the coasts of major Gulf oil producers including Iraq and Saudi Arabia as well as LNG giant Qatar, according to Reuters estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.

(Reporting by Jonathan SaulEditing by David Goodman)