Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that four oil tankers had been destroyed after hitting naval sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement came a day after US officials said the American military had launched strikes on the country.
The IRGC said two of the vessels were still burning and that two more tankers had been seized, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. It said the ships had been trying to travel through a prohibited southern route in the strait. The claim has not been independently verified.
Tanker losses and seizures in the Strait of Hormuz
The IRGC also reported that three tankers had been destroyed after hitting mines early on Tuesday, and that its forces had shot down an MQ-9 drone over the strait. The earlier US strikes on Qeshm were described as a response to the IRGC firing on a US aircraft.
Also read: Iran Guards say three oil tankers hit mines in Hormuz · Iran Guards say two oil tankers halted after Hormuz incidents
Midterm results and warnings from Tehran
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the country’s parliamentary speaker, said the results of the US midterm elections showed Americans had said no to war. In a post on X, he said that whether the motive was conscience or the cost of living, Americans had rejected the war, and Iran endorsed that message.
Ghalibaf warned Washington not to betray its public. He said that if the US government chose to serve what he called international paymasters and blackmailers, it would learn that Iran’s refusal came with a nightmare attached.
US President Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that poor results for Republican congress members were partly due to the war and higher gas prices, but said he did not regret launching it. He told a US television network that the conflict would end “when I say it ends.” In an interview with the Financial Times ahead of the midterms, he suggested he was satisfied with the state of the conflict and did not consider it “really in a war.”
Asked about comments by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu that another attack on Iran would come this week, Trump said US forces were “locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no need for it.” On Tuesday night, he told a US broadcaster that some people would “love” to carry out a “heavy hit” on Iran. “The only thing I can tell you with certainty, they will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Stalled talks and Iran’s conditions for reopening the strait
Talks to end the conflict, which was triggered by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, have been stalled for months with little sign of a breakthrough. On Tuesday, Ghalibaf told a parliamentary session that Iran “will not surrender” and that the responsibility for preventing a war lay with the US. He added that if Washington made another strategic mistake, it would face a new battlefield.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said his government had been trying to resolve the crisis “through dialogue.” He said on Tuesday that “no-one will benefit from this war” if fighting restarts.
Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the attack, has said it will reopen it only if the US agrees to demands contained in its peace plan. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said this week that the seven-step plan had been condensed and could be implemented within two days if the US agreed.
