Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says 2 oil tankers exploded in Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said Thursday that two oil tankers exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after “ignoring repeated warnings” against using an “unauthorized” route.

In a statement carried by Iran’s ISNA news agency, the IRGC Navy said the two tankers were involved in an incident late Wednesday while “transiting the southern part of the strait, despite repeated warnings from its traffic control center.”

The statement described both vessels as supertankers carrying a combined cargo of “more than 4 million barrels of oil,” adding that they had been stopped following “a massive explosion.”

The IRGC Navy accused the vessels of “cooperating with the US military,” referring to it as 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.”

The statement did not identify the vessels or provide further details about the incident.

The developments come amid continued tensions between Iran and the US over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important strategic routes for energy and commodity supplies and a key issue in negotiations between the two sides.

The war began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, before a ceasefire was reached in April. Clashes between Washington and Tehran later resumed as negotiations stalled despite the two sides signing a memorandum of understanding in June.

By Ikram Kouachi

Anadolu Agency

energy@aa.com.tr