Three Oil Tankers on Fire in Strait of Hormuz After Blasts, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Say

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said Sunday that three oil tankers exploded and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest round of attacks on shipping in the waterway.

The Guards said in a statement that the fires began in the early hours of Sunday, along a route it called unauthorized. The tankers had switched off their navigation and identification systems, the statement said, and thick smoke from the burning vessels spread across the strait.

The statement came less than a day after the Guards said two oil tankers struck naval mines and caught fire while trying to use the same southern route. One was east of the strait and the other inside it, the Guards said late Saturday. The semi-official Fars news agency later reported that a third tanker had also suffered an explosion and caught fire.

U.S. says it disabled a vessel in the Gulf of Oman

The United States said Saturday evening that its air force fired at the stern of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman and disabled it as the vessel tried to pass through a blockade of Iranian ports. The vessel was not named.

Monitors from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a bulk carrier and military forces were involved in an incident in the Gulf of Oman, about 18 nautical miles east of the city of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates. The agency said the damage was unknown and it was unclear whether the incident was tied to the reported U.S. attack.

Reuters said it was not able to confirm any of the reported strikes.

Blasts reported on Qeshm Island

Iranian state television said blasts heard Saturday evening in several areas, including Qeshm Island in the strait, might have been tied to Iranian military activity in the waterway. The Tasnim news agency said two missiles had struck Qeshm Island, with no official word on damage. Neither Iran nor the United States commented on that report.

The Guards said vessels that defy its rules for the strait would face the same fate. It said the southern routes near Omani waters have been declared off limits and mined, and that only ships using designated northern corridors with prior authorization can pass safely. About one-fifth of the world’s oil normally moves through the strait, according to Press TV.

The fighting at sea follows attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran that began in February. Since then, Tehran has hit vessels in the strait to block Gulf energy exports, while U.S. forces began blockading movements to and from Iranian ports in April, according to The Hindu BusinessLine. On Saturday, the U.S. military said it was setting up a task force to block the movement of advanced weapons and other sanctioned material to Iran over its land borders and the Caspian Sea. The Guards dismissed the plan as “wordplay.”

Reporting based on coverage by The Hindu BusinessLine, Press TV and Al Jazeera.