Three oil tankers suffered explosions and caught fire after striking sea mines near the Strait of Hormuz over the past twenty-four hours. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the incident in a statement released through state media on Thursday.
According to the Revolutionary Guards, the vessels attempted to navigate an unauthorised route while crossing the southern waters of the strait. The tankers had turned off their radar and navigation equipment.
Authorities in Tehran said the ships ignored prior warnings issued by the naval branch of the Revolutionary Guards. The military branch later stated that the burning vessels had been abandoned on the southern shores of the waterway.
Earlier on Thursday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported a ship on fire within the same shipping lane. The British maritime organisation did not immediately disclose the cause of the fire or mention any potential casualties.
The master of a passing vessel submitted the initial report, placing the burning ship nine nautical miles, or seventeen kilometres, north of Khasab in Oman, just off the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz is a primary transit corridor for international oil and natural gas shipments. Since the onset of the Middle East conflict in February, Iran has tried to regulate traffic through the waterway.
Tehran has targeted vessels that it accuses of traversing the corridor without official authorisation. In response, the United States has maintained a counterblockade targeting Iranian ports.
