Iranupdated 12m ago3 min read
Archive photo · 2 December 2020Iranian Naval Forces Say Tanker Caught Fire After Hitting Mine in Strait of Hormuz
9 West Asian2 Israeli2 Western Alternative3 Other source typesPhoto: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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IRGC Navy says tanker caught fire after hitting a naval mine in Strait of Hormuz. The incident involved an unauthorized passage as the tanker attempted to use restricted route.
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Mine, fire, and blocked routes
Iranian naval forces announced that a fire broke out on a tanker in the Hormuz Strait after it collided with a naval mine while the vessel was in a restricted and unsafe area east of the strait. Iranian naval forces said the fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday on a tanker described as “defiant” in an area described as “prohibited and unsafe” east of the Hormuz Strait. Iranian authorities insisted on supervising navigation in the strategic sea lane and obliging ships to use declared sea routes, while the United States imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and helped some oil tankers pass through the strait.
The Iranian announcement came as Iranian officials said the incident was part of a chain of events that included the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announcing fires on three oil tankers in the strait on Tuesday. Euronews said the British Maritime Trade Operations Directorate confirmed it had received a report about an incident involving an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz but did not provide details about the circumstances.
Competing claims and missing details
Iran’s military and navy statements tied the Wednesday fire to a sea mine and described the tanker’s location as “unsafe and restricted,” while the UKMTO report left key details unprovided at the time of the warning. Euronews said the agency stated that information regarding the crew’s condition, the extent of potential damage, and environmental implications was not available at the time of the report. Iran’s army said the Navy’s sailors were monitoring and controlling the eastern part of the Strait of Hormuz and advised ship owners that safe passage required coordination with the armed forces and compliance with maritime laws.
Iran’s claims also extended beyond the single tanker, as the IRGC Navy’s Public Relations Office said two oil tankers exploded and caught fire after striking naval mines while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz via an unauthorised route. The IRGC Navy also accused CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper of responsibility and said the incident added another chapter to his “black record.”
Escalation risks for shipping
Iran’s announcements placed the incident within a wider pattern of recurrent fires in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iranian forces repeatedly attributing ship and tanker fires to collisions with naval mines. Euronews said Iranian announcements of fires on ships in the Strait of Hormuz had recurred in recent weeks, and it noted that the U.S. military recently announced the removal of all mines from the waterway. The same reporting said it remained unclear whether the tanker mentioned by the Indian minister was one of the three ships the IRGC announced had burned in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s IRGC Navy said the two tankers it described had switched off their navigation and identification systems and attempted to leave the strait secretly with support from US military aircraft, while it said efforts to extinguish the fires proved unsuccessful. The stakes in the sources extended beyond the immediate fires, as Türkiye Today said the IRGC Navy reported that another oil tanker had exploded after striking a naval mine earlier this week, adding to a growing string of attacks on commercial shipping in the strategic waterway.