TEHRAN An Iranian official said that a U.S. warship attacked and sank an oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf on Sunday.

According to the General Director of the Marine Environment Department of Iran, Saeid Hosseini, the Honduras-flagged Georgios oil tanker sank in the Persian Gulf shortly after being hit by a missile fired by a U.S. warship.

Hosseini said that the 1,900 tons of oil on the tanker that sunk near Iran's Soroush oil field would gradually leak into the sea, adding that, according to technical assessments, the oil slick would threaten the shores of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait within the next two weeks.

Prior to this, a U.S. navy spokesman had announced in Bahrain that an oil tanker had sunk in the Persian Gulf on Sunday due to technical problems.

Meanwhile, according to the Al-Jazeera television network, following an argument between the captain of the tanker ship and the U.S. forces, the ship had been blockaded by the U.S. forces for 34 days.