Oil tanker hits mine in Strait of Hormuz and catches fire, Iran says

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful armed force, said Saturday that an oil tanker was on fire in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a mine in this maritime passage at the heart of the conflict between Tehran and Washington. 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.

“An infringing 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,” the Guardians said in a statement which did not specify the exact location where the incident occurred. 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.

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 thanks to the support of the American army (...) by deactivating all its tracking systems,” added the Guardians, who also broadcast a video of a ship on fire in the middle of the night.

Before the war against Iran, triggered on February 28 by Israeli-American strikes, crossing the Strait of Hormuz was done without incident and did not require authorization. Tehran now cites reasons of security and sovereignty.

In retaliation for this blockade, 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, the Commander of the Guardian Navy, Admiral Ali Ozmai, warned that any ship disabling its navigation systems would be considered “hostile” and would face retaliation.