Iran Guards say cargo ship sank in Hormuz after hitting mine

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that a ship caught fire and sank in the Strait of Hormuz because of a mine, while British security firm Vanguard also reported a sinking. “A container ship attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz using an unauthorized and dangerous shipping lane struck a mine that exploded,” said the navy of the IRGC, the Iranian paramilitary tasked with advancing the ideology of the 1979 revolution. Images released by the IRGC showed a plume of black smoke rising from a ship, while dozens of containers that had fallen into the sea floated on the water. The IRGC said the ship was carrying more than 2,500 containers. Iran claims control of the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s hydrocarbons passed before the Middle East war. It regularly targets ships it accuses of transiting without authorization, while the US has imposed its own blockade on Iran’s ports. According to Vanguard, the GFS Pride, a Singapore-flagged container ship, was struck by a projectile on Tuesday and sank. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms It was not clear if the two statements referred to the same ship. The vessel lost this morning in the southern corridor of the Strait of Hormuz has been identified as the GFS PRIDE, a UAE-owned container ship. Its AIS had been switched off for the past 10 days. pic.twitter.com/NHIE98JamQ — Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 14, 2026 Advertisement Vanguard reported three other ships struck on Tuesday, with two of them continuing on their way and the fate of the third unknown. The US military meanwhile said it destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow last week that it alleged was conducting surveillance and targeting US Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman. “Crew members were safely removed prior to destruction of the dhow. Repatriation efforts are ongoing,” the US Central Command posted on X, saying the incident took place on October 6. On Oct. 6, U.S. forces destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow conducting surveillance and targeting U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman. Over the past seven months, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has continued to indiscriminately target thousands of civilian mariners… pic.twitter.com/99Vn5TTxVh — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 14, 2026 The war was triggered in late February by US-Israeli strikes against Iran, which aimed to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said. Advertisement A ceasefire in April and an interim deal in June have fallen apart, but a return to full-scale fighting has yet to occur. 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