An Iranian oil tanker was damaged Friday near the Saudi port of Jeddah after being hit by suspected missiles, Iranian state media said, raising the prospect of military escalation in the Middle East. 

The explosions on the tanker, operated by the National Iranian Oil Company, occurred between 5:00 and 5:20 a.m. local time damaging two of its main oil tanks, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The spill from the tanker into the Red Sea had been halted and the damage minimized, the Iranian oil ministry’s Shana news service said.

Saheb Sadeghi, the spokesman for the National Iranian Tanker Company, said in a call with Iran’s Press TV that two missiles hit the tanker and probably came from the direction of Saudi Arabia.