Five tankers and a tugboat catch fire in Strait of Hormuz after mine strikes, Iran says
Five oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on 5 November after striking naval mines, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and army said, as a separate tanker was hit by two projectiles off Qatar and oil prices fell on hopes of diplomacy.
Five oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on 5 November after striking naval mines, according to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and army, in the latest escalation of attacks on shipping through the world's most important oil waterway.
The incidents unfolded over Wednesday night and Thursday, the Iranian statements said. In the first, a large oil tanker attempting to pass through what the Revolutionary Guards called an unauthorised route south of the strait struck a mine, caught fire and came to a halt. In a separate incident, another supertanker caught fire while leaving the strait through the eastern passage, and a tugboat that approached to help extinguish the blaze also caught fire.
The Iranian army then reported further incidents on Thursday. Early in the morning, it said, another tanker navigating what it described as an unsafe area east of the strait struck a naval mine, caught fire and stopped. Around noon, two more oil tankers struck mines in the same waters and caught fire, according to a second army statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
Separately, the British monitor UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received a verified report of a tanker being struck by two unidentified projectiles about 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, off the coast of Qatar. The agency gave no details of damage or casualties.
Iranian state media said the vessels had been using routes Tehran considers unauthorised and had switched off their detection and navigation systems. The Revolutionary Guards said their navy continued to maintain control over the strait. Neither Iran nor any maritime authority named the vessels involved, and there has been no independent confirmation of the incidents from maritime officials.
The Revolutionary Guards also claimed on Thursday that their navy had intercepted and seized two US-made Lucas unmanned aircraft through electronic warfare, describing them as captured spoils. There was no immediate confirmation of that claim from Washington.
The incidents are the latest in a sharp rise in attacks on shipping around the strait. The waterway has seen repeated mine strikes and projectile attacks in recent days, including three tankers hit on 3 November and a claim by Iran on 4 November that four tankers had been destroyed. UKMTO recorded more than 35 incidents in the strait during October, the highest monthly total since the conflict began in February.
The attacks come as the United States and Iran remain locked in a war now in its eighth month, with a US naval blockade restricting Iranian oil exports and Qatar mediating between the two sides. Iran has tied the reopening of the strait to its conditions, while the United States has said the waterway must remain open to international shipping.
Diplomatic efforts continued alongside the violence. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by telephone on Thursday with his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, about resuming navigation through the strait without obstacles, and also held calls with the Saudi and Qatari foreign ministers. Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter, that Iran had sent a proposal concerning its nuclear programme to the United States through Qatar.
Oil markets reacted to the prospect of diplomacy rather than the fires. Brent crude fell by more than 8 per cent on Wednesday to settle at $94.62 a barrel, its lowest since late August, as traders bet that the US midterm elections — in which Democrats won control of Congress — could hasten an end to the war. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the military was "locked and loaded" for further action if needed, while also weighing a deal, with Vice President JD Vance urging an agreement.
Regional navies are also responding to the threat at sea. South Korea announced on Thursday that it would expand its Cheonghae anti-piracy unit, operating in the Gulf of Aden since 2009, by deploying a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, an explosive ordnance disposal team and unmanned mine-clearing vessels, and by roughly doubling its operational area to waters south of Oman. The expansion, which needs parliamentary approval, would add 75 personnel, bringing the unit to 395, though Seoul stressed its forces would stay outside the strait itself and would not take part in the war.
What happens next is uncertain. The strait carries a large share of the world's seaborne oil, and every new incident raises insurance costs and pushes shippers to seek escorts or alternative routes. For now, the pattern of the past week — mines, fires and competing claims, followed by another round of mediation — shows no sign of breaking.
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