The Revolutionary Guard announces the explosion and burning of 3 oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz... and renews its warning to ships

(CNN) - On Sunday, the naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that explosions and fires broke out in 3 oil tankers while they were crossing the Strait of Hormuz, claiming that they used an “unauthorized route.”

The official Iranian News Agency (IRNA) said on Sunday that the Naval Forces of the Revolutionary Guard announced, in a statement, that the three tankers were exposed to “severe explosions and fires while crossing the strait via an unauthorized route,” noting that “thick smoke resulting from their burning covered the sky of the strait.”

The statement added that the fires broke out on the tankers as a result of the shutdown of their navigation and identification systems, and as a result of what it described as "US Army practices."

The Revolutionary Guards Naval Forces confirmed that the Iranian rules for navigation in the Strait of Hormuz had been repeatedly communicated to all ships, warning that ships that violate these rules and cooperate with the American army, which it described as “smugglers,” to cross unauthorized passages in the Strait, will face the same fate, according to the IRNA agency.

Recently, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard intensified its attacks on commercial ships and oil and gas tankers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, since the US military began imposing the naval blockade on Iran.