WORLD
Four tankers on fire after hitting mines
Iran considers ships using the southern corridor near the Omani coast unauthorized.
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Four tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s armed forces said Thursday, a day after the United States military said it cleared key routes through the waterway.
“Over the past 24 hours, three violating oil tankers exploded and caught fire after striking mines while attempting to pass through the unauthorized southern route of the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement.
Another tanker had caught fire east of the strait, after hitting mines while “operating in a restricted and dangerous area,” Iran’s army reported later Thursday.
The initial three vessels had “switched off all their radar and navigation systems” and disregarded warnings from the IRGC navy, the statement said.
It was not immediately clear when the incidents occurred or which flags the tankers were flying.
British maritime agency UKMTO, meanwhile, said late Thursday it had received a report of a vessel on fire about 46 kilometers northeast of Khasab, Oman, in the Hormuz strait.
Hours later, UKMTO reported the fire was extinguished and the crew were safe.
The tanker was approached on the port side by a small boat which attached two explosive devices to the hull above the waterline, the maritime agency said.
“The subsequent blasts resulted in a fire in the engine room which temporarily disabled the vessel.”
Earlier, UKMTO reported two other incidents in the area: a dhow that caught fire and sank following a maritime security incident, and a tanker struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
In recent weeks, Iran has reported multiple vessels striking sea mines, prompting US Central Command, which runs military operations in the region, to reaffirm on social media its insistence that all mines in “primary transit routes” have been cleared.
On Thursday, Hossein Mohebi, the spokesperson for the IRGC challenged the claim, saying on X: “Prove your Hormuz mine-clearing claim with independent evidence, not statements!”
Since the outbreak of the war on 28 February, Iran has severely restricted traffic through the strategic waterway, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption.