Iranupdated 25m ago2 min read
MapIran’s IRGC Navy Says Two Oil Tankers Exploded in Strait of Hormuz After Ignoring Warnings
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Two oil tankers exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring warnings, says IRGC Navy. Tankers struck naval mines and caught fire in an unauthorized, restricted area.
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Hormuz Tankers Explode
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said two oil tankers exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after the vessels “ignoring repeated warnings” against using an “unauthorized” route. The IRGC Navy said the tankers were involved in an incident late Wednesday while “transiting the southern part of the strait, despite repeated warnings from its traffic control center,” and the statement carried by Iran’s ISNA news agency described both vessels as supertankers carrying a combined cargo of “more than 4 million barrels of oil.”
The IRGC Navy accused the vessels of “cooperating with the US military,” calling it a “smuggling army,” and warned that “any ship in the Persian Gulf or Strait of Hormuz that switches off its navigation systems and cooperates with US forces to cross the southern route would face the same fate.” Iran’s Army, in a separate account, said two more tankers caught fire east of the Strait of Hormuz after striking a naval mine in a prohibited zone, and it said the vessels ignored warnings and switched off their radar systems before entering the prohibited zone.
Mine, Route, and Warnings
Iran’s Army said the tankers entered a prohibited and unsafe area Thursday afternoon despite warnings and after switching off their radar systems, and it accused US President Donald Trump of bearing primary responsibility while also blaming ship owners for relying on what it described as misleading statements from Washington. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the incident, and the statement did not identify the tankers, their flags or the extent of the damage.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said two tankers carrying over four million barrels of oil caught fire after an “accident” on an unauthorised route in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Guards said the vessels were “acting in violation of regulations and despite repeated warnings from the Revolutionary Guards Navy.” The IRGC described the incident as an “accident” on an unauthorized route and said it left the two tankers immobilised after they were hit with a “violent explosion.”
Tensions and Maritime Stakes
Iran’s accounts tied the incidents to continued tensions between Iran and the US over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, with Anadolu Ajansı describing the war as beginning with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28 and a ceasefire reached in April.
Clashes between Washington and Tehran later resumed as negotiations stalled despite the two sides signing a memorandum of understanding in June, and the Strait of Hormuz was described as “one of the world’s most important strategic routes for energy and commodity supplies.”
The Army’s statement blamed the incident first on the “liar U.S. president” and then on ship owners, and it framed the mine and fire claims as part of a broader pattern of restricted navigation.
Iran’s military said two supertankers were disabled on Wednesday after hitting naval mines, while Iran’s army reported that two more tankers caught fire on Thursday after striking mines in the eastern part of the strait, and Reuters said it could not independently verify Iran’s account.