Iran: An oil tanker hits a mine in the Strait of Hormuz and catches fire, according to Tehran

An oil tanker reportedly caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful armed force, noted the incident this Saturday, without specifying the exact location.

“An offending supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil, attempting to illegally cross the Strait of Hormuz, hit a mine, causing an explosion and a violent fire,” they said.

Iran claims control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons transited before the war, and regularly targets ships that venture there without its authorization. The Strait of Hormuz, bordered to the north by the Iranian coast and to the south by the Sultanate of Oman, is around thirty kilometers in its narrowest part.

Iranian blockade, American blockade

Since the blocking of the strait by Iranian forces, many ships have sought to cross it without authorization from Tehran by skirting the Omani coast. Iran considers them to be in violation and regularly threatens reprisals.

“The tanker attempted to cross the strait with the support of the US military […] by deactivating all its tracking systems,” added the Guardians.

In retaliation for this blockage, Washington imposes a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and escorts oil tankers, of which an increasing number are crossing the Strait of Hormuz. This week, Guardian Navy Commander Admiral Ali Ozmai warned that any ship disabling its navigation systems would be considered “hostile” and face retaliation.