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The current crisis in Hormuz brings back memories of the "tanker war"

2026-04-12 21:48:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The current crisis in Hormuz brings back memories of the "tanker war"

Arild Syvertsen is one of many retired sailors who are reliving traumatic memories from the Strait of Hormuz, amid the current crisis in this waterway.

"We are experiencing the return of [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] during this war," he told Radio Free Europe from his home in Norway. Syversten said that "sailors who were there in the '80s are going through a difficult time because all the memories are coming back."

Syversten steered ships through the Strait of Hormuz during the height of the Tanker War, a 1981-1988 conflict that resembles today's crisis in the Persian Gulf.

The Tanker War was an offshoot of the Iran-Iraq War, which began in 1980 with Iraq's invasion of Iran. The conflict quickly spread to the waters of the Persian Gulf, as Iraq, and then Iran, targeted each other's oil facilities and shipping.

By the mid-1980s, Iraq, using aircraft acquired from France and anti-ship missiles, had attacked neutral ships carrying Iranian oil, while Iran had used naval frigates and fast boats to attack third-country oil tankers using the ports of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Both of these Arab countries had supported Iraq in the war.

Hundreds of ships were attacked during the naval conflict and more than 100 merchant mariners were killed.

Despite the risks, sailors were persuaded to serve on tankers sailing through the Persian Gulf, in part because of the additional hazard pay, which in some cases doubled their pay for each day they sailed through dangerous waters. Syvertsen said even senior crew members felt an obligation to keep energy supplies moving through this vital waterway.

"We wanted to do our job because the shipowners were telling us that we had to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and transport energy, otherwise the whole world's economy would collapse," he said./REL 





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