Iran claims four tankers destroyed after hitting mines near Strait of Hormuz as shipping tensions rise again
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say four oil tankers were destroyed after striking naval mines while trying to pass through a prohibited route south of the Strait of Hormuz, with two other vessels halted and a US-made drone shot down.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed that four oil tankers were destroyed after striking naval mines while attempting to pass through a prohibited shipping route south of the Strait of Hormuz. The claim, carried by Iranian state television and the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday, is the latest escalation in a months-long confrontation over the world’s most important oil chokepoint.
According to the IRGC statement, the four vessels were described as non-compliant tankers attempting to cross a passage that Iranian authorities had declared prohibited. “Four non-compliant oil tankers attempting to pass through the prohibited passage south of the Strait of Hormuz were destroyed after striking naval mines and are still burning,” the statement said. Two other vessels were also halted for violating shipping restrictions, it added.
Iranian authorities did not name the tankers, give their flags, owners, ports of departure or destinations, or provide information about their crews. The claims could not be independently verified, and no independent confirmation of the destruction, the fires or the seizure of the two other vessels had emerged by Wednesday afternoon.
The IRGC also claimed its air defences had shot down a US-made MQ-9 drone over the strait in the early hours of Wednesday, describing it as the 56th such aircraft it had downed. That claim, too, remained unverified, and there was no immediate confirmation from the United States.
Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre reported that a tanker had been struck by two unidentified projectiles in its engine room about 14 nautical miles north-east of the Omani coastal village of Limah on Tuesday. The agency gave no indication of casualties or environmental damage, and the vessel was not named in its initial report. Shipping security firms later identified it as a Barbados-flagged very large crude carrier that had been placed on an Iranian blacklist.
Wednesday’s claim follows a similar IRGC announcement a day earlier, when it said three tankers had been hit by mines in the strait. The pattern — a claim, a fire, and no independently verified wreckage or casualty list — has become familiar since Tehran began tightening its grip on Hormuz in late September, with more than 40 vessels reported attacked since then.
The strait carries a large share of the world’s seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas, and any disruption there feeds directly into energy prices. Oil prices had already risen above $100 a barrel in early trading on Wednesday amid the wider Gulf confrontation, and traders were watching for any sign that shipping through Hormuz would be further curtailed.
The latest claims came against a backdrop of renewed fighting and frantic diplomacy. President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States had launched strikes on Iran, targeting what he described as an anti-aircraft facility, after reports of a raid on Qeshm Island, the largest island in the strait. Iran, for its part, called the US response to its seven conditions for reopening Hormuz “unconvincing”.
Qatar has been leading efforts to avert a renewed war between the United States and Iran, and its foreign minister spoke with his Saudi counterpart on Wednesday about regional tensions, maritime security and de-escalation. Iran’s chief negotiator said on Wednesday that American voters had delivered a verdict against war in the midterms, a message Tehran has repeated as it seeks to frame the conflict as one the US public does not want.
What happens next will depend heavily on whether Wednesday’s claims are confirmed, denied or simply left hanging. If tankers are indeed burning south of Hormuz, insurers, shipowners and navies will have to decide whether the route is still passable at all. If the claims prove exaggerated, they will still have served their purpose: reminding every shipowner in the Gulf that Hormuz remains a waterway where a single incident can move the price of oil around the world.
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