TEHRAN (The Thursday Times) — Iran’s armed forces said on Saturday that three more oil tankers had caught fire after striking naval mines in and around the Strait of Hormuz, days after Tehran said four other tankers had been disabled in the same waters.
The navy of the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by the state broadcaster early on Saturday that two oil tankers that had switched off their radar and positioning systems, and were “secretly attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz through an unauthorised route”, had “exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine”. It said one of them was a supertanker, but did not name either vessel or say where they were from.
A separate statement from Iran’s regular navy said a third tanker, sailing through what it called the “unsafe and prohibited zone” east of the strait with its tracking and identification systems switched off, had caught fire and been forced to stop after hitting a mine. It warned that any ship entering the zone despite earlier warnings would meet the same fate.
The navy blamed the tankers’ owners, saying they had ignored what happened to other vessels and were trusting the “nonsensical rhetoric” of US President Donald Trump. “These owners are sending their assets into a ‘war of mines’ and consigning them to the flames,” it said.
None of the claims could be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from the United States or from the owners of any ship. The US military has said it has cleared the main routes through the waterway of mines.
A week of mine claims
On Friday, the Guards released footage of a large plume of smoke rising from a vessel they said was carrying liquefied gas and had hit a mine in the south of the strait. On Wednesday night and Thursday, Iranian forces said four tankers had been hit in and around the waterway. None of those vessels has been identified either.
Since war broke out with the United States in February, Tehran has insisted that ships obtain its permission before crossing the strait, and has attacked vessels that do not comply. Washington has responded with a naval blockade of Iranian ports and military support for tankers using the route.
The latest claims come as the International Energy Agency says Gulf oil exports are recovering and the market has swung back to surplus. In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the economic pain on Iran meant there was no need for further US military action, while at the UN Security Council, Iran’s deputy envoy warned that any renewed attack would be met with an “immediate and decisive response”.
