Iran: Revolutionary Guards strike new ship in Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for a new strike on Monday against an oil tanker that attempted to cross the Strait of Hormuz, at the heart of the war between Iran and the United States. “A supertanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz and caught fire,” the Guardians’ marine force said in a statement published on their Sepah News website.

Since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, triggered at the end of February by strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, Tehran has claimed control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons transited before the war.

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The ship ignored “warnings from the Guardian Navy”

The Islamic Republic regularly targets boats that venture there without its authorization. Washington, for its part, imposes a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and escorts oil tankers, of which there are increasing numbers crossing the strait.

The ship targeted Monday had attempted to cross the area “by disabling its navigation system” and “ignoring warnings from the Guardian Navy,” the Iranian forces statement said. The day before, the commander of the Guardian Navy, Admiral Ali Ozmai, had warned that any ship disabling its navigation systems in the Strait of Hormuz would be considered “hostile” and would face “severe measures”. Britain's maritime safety agency UKMTO also released reports on Monday of four separate incidents of ships being hit in the Strait of Hormuz the day before.