The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reported that three oil tankers caught fire and were abandoned on the southern shores of the Strait of Hormuz after striking naval mines within the last 24 hours. The IRGC said the ships were attempting to exit the strait via an unauthorized southern route and had disabled their radar and navigation systems, ignoring warnings from Iranian forces before the explosions occurred.
The claim follows a statement from U.S. Central Command on Oct 28 that categorized Iranian reports of sea mines in the waterway as false, asserting that U.S. forces had cleared the primary shipping lanes. This is the latest in a series of such reports from Tehran, which previously claimed on Oct 23 that two supertankers carrying more than 4.5 million barrels of crude were disabled by mines. Separately, the UK Maritime Trade Operations center has reported more than two dozen attacks on commercial vessels in the region since early October.