On Thursday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said three oil tankers were engulfed in flames after running into mines while trying to get through the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the blasts happened over the previous day as the ships used an unauthorised southern passage through the waterway.
The statement said the vessels had shut down all radar and navigation equipment and ignored warnings from the IRGC navy. No immediate details were available on when the explosions occurred or which flags the tankers were flying.
Hormuz traffic curbs and the southern corridor dispute
Since the war began on February 28, Iran has sharply limited traffic through the strategic waterway, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil and gas consumption. In response, the United States has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.
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Iran’s armed forces have repeatedly accused US Central Command, known as CENTCOM, of encouraging ships to use a corridor near the Omani coast that Tehran regards as unauthorised. The Guards warned ship owners and crews that they were responsible for choosing these routes and should ignore what it called CENTCOM’s “delusions” on social media.
UKMTO report and claimed capture of US drone
Earlier on Thursday, the British maritime agency UKMTO said it had received a report of a ship on fire in the strait. It gave no details about the cause or any casualties, and it was not immediately clear whether that vessel was one of the three ships the Guards referred to.
Separately, the IRGC navy said its electronic warfare unit had captured a US MQM-170 drone during what it described as an “offensive operation” in the western part of the strait.
