TEHRAN (The Thursday Times) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil had sunk in the Gulf after striking a naval mine, one of two tankers they said were hit within hours.
In a statement carried by state television, the Guards said the two tankers were travelling along “an unauthorised route” in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz when they hit mines, causing “massive explosions and fire”. The supertanker, they said, sank in the southern waters of the Gulf. The statement did not name either vessel or say who owned them or where they were from.
There was no independent confirmation of the Iranian account. Separately, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said it was aware of a report received by Indian shipping authorities of an attack on a tanker sailing eastbound through the Arabian Gulf before the Strait of Hormuz. It said all crew on that vessel were accounted for and safe, and that the damage and any environmental impact were not yet known. It was not clear whether this was the same incident that Iran described, and the centre advised ships in the area to transit with caution.
A pattern of mine claims
Tehran has repeatedly announced in recent weeks that ships have caught fire in the strait, often saying they hit mines. On Saturday it said three more tankers had struck mines, one of them a supertanker, and none of those vessels has been identified either.
Since the war with the United States began in late February, Iran has restricted traffic through the waterway and told vessels to use routes it authorises. Washington has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and the US military says it has cleared all mines from the main routes through the strait. US Central Command said last month that it had helped Gulf states export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through Hormuz since the summer.
