Iran says four tankers have caught fire after striking mines in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran raised its count on Thursday. The Revolutionary Guard said three oil tankers exploded and caught fire over the preceding 24 hours after striking mines while trying to use a southern route through the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran has not authorized. The Guard said the ships had switched off their radar and navigation systems and ignored warnings from its navy. The Iranian army then reported a fourth tanker on fire east of the strait, in water Tehran describes as a restricted and dangerous area.

No vessel was named in either statement. No flag, owner or crew was identified, and no casualty figures were given. The claims have not been independently confirmed.

The British report stands apart from the Iranian account. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said it received a report of a vessel on fire about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman. Other UKMTO reporting described a tanker that had explosive devices attached to its hull by a small boat, with the crew safe, a traditional dhow that caught fire and sank after a maritime security incident, and a tanker struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the strait. UKMTO has not said that any of those ships are the tankers in the Iranian statements.

The timing is the argument. A day earlier, United States Central Command said American forces had cleared the primary transit routes of mines and had helped Gulf states export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through Hormuz since the summer. An IRGC spokesman, Hossein Mohebi, answered on X: prove the mine clearing claim with independent evidence, not statements. The Guard warned that the unauthorized route is mined and that owners and crews who rely on Central Command's statements bear the responsibility.

The strait normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil and gas consumption. Traffic has fallen to single digit daily passings since the war began in late February, and the United States enforces a blockade of Iranian ports while it escorts tankers through. What has not been established is who laid the mines Iran describes, which flags the four tankers were sailing under, and whether the southern route remains navigable at all.