Four Tankers Catch Fire After Hitting Mines in Strait of Hormuz, Iran Says
Iran's armed forces said four oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines in and near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, a day after the U.S. military said it had cleared mines from the waterway's main transit routes.
Four oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines in and near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, Iran’s armed forces said, a day after the U.S. military said it had cleared mines from the waterway’s main transit routes.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said three of the tankers exploded and caught fire within the previous 24 hours after hitting mines while trying to use what it called an unauthorized southern route through the strait. The vessels had switched off their radar and navigation systems and ignored warnings from the Guard’s navy, the statement said. The three tankers were abandoned off the southern coast of the waterway, according to the Guard.
Iran’s army reported a fourth incident separately later on Thursday, saying another tanker caught fire after striking a naval mine east of the strait while operating in what Tehran called a restricted and dangerous zone. The vessel was damaged and left unable to move, the army said in a statement broadcast by Iranian state television.
Conflicting accounts of the waterway
The reports directly challenge recent U.S. claims about the safety of the strait. U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the region, has said on social media that mines have been cleared from the primary transit routes. Guard spokesman Hossein Mohebi rejected that claim on X on Thursday, writing: “Prove your Hormuz mine-clearing claim with independent evidence, not statements!”
Britain’s maritime agency, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, said it had received a report of a vessel on fire about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, in the strait. The agency also reported two other incidents in the area: a dhow that caught fire and sank after a maritime security incident, with all crew members safely evacuated, and a tanker struck by an unknown projectile while leaving the strait.
The strait normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption. Iran has sharply restricted traffic through it since the war began on February 28, while the United States has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and helped tankers travel the waterway. On Sunday, Central Command said it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through Hormuz since the summer.
A separate claim about a drone
In a separate statement on Thursday, the Guard said its naval forces had captured a U.S. MQM-170 reconnaissance drone during an operation in the western Strait of Hormuz. The claim could not be independently confirmed from the reports available on Thursday.
Reporting based on coverage by Malay Mail and the Daily Times of Bangladesh.
