An oil tanker takes on crude oil in the Persian Gulf. Photo: US Navy / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Three oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines in and around the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's navy said on Saturday, in the latest attack on commercial shipping in the strategic waterway at the center of the war between the United States and Iran.
Iranian state television reported the incidents, citing statements from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's navy and the Iranian Armed Forces' Navy. Two tankers were hit inside the strait, while a third was burning east of the chokepoint, according to the report.
The statements gave no details about casualties, the tankers' nationalities or their destinations. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the reports, which came only from Iranian military authorities. No independent confirmation of the incidents or the reported damage was available at the time of publication.
Iran Warns Ships to Stay Away
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy said the two tankers inside the strait had been attempting to cross without authorization and had switched off their navigation and automatic identification systems. In a separate statement, the Armed Forces' Navy reported the third vessel east of the strait.
Both Iranian naval forces warned that ships using routes through the strait without Iran's approval would face a similar fate. The statements also criticized tanker owners for sending vessels into the restricted area, accusing them of relying on assurances from US President Donald Trump.
"It is unfortunate that tanker owners, without learning from the fate of other offending vessels, trusting the nonsense of the criminal US president, are sending their capital into the mine war and throwing it into the fire," the Revolutionary Guard Navy said in its statement, according to Iranian state media.
Iran has imposed restrictions on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz and has attacked ships it says violated those restrictions, as it seeks to assert control over the waterway and exert pressure on the United States. The strait is one of the world's most important oil chokepoints, carrying a large share of the seaborne crude that reaches global markets.
Shipping Attacks Reach a New High
The incidents underline how dangerous the waterway has become since the war began in February, when the United States and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran. October recorded the highest number of incidents involving commercial ships in the contested waters since the war began, according to the Associated Press.
Iran has been attacking oil tankers and other shipping in the strait to drive up global energy prices during the war, while the United States has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports that has severely disrupted Iran's economy.
The tanker fires came on the same day that reports emerged that President Trump has told senior advisers he may hold off on further strikes against Iran if Tehran and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen offer no new provocations, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters. The president has alternated between threats of escalating the war and winding down hostilities, and officials say he does not appear to have made up his mind.
US intelligence agencies have assessed that the naval blockade and economic sanctions are hurting Iran's economy and would continue to put pressure on Tehran, two US officials briefed on the intelligence told Reuters. The agencies also assessed that renewed strikes would not significantly shift Iran's demands in negotiations.
A Chokepoint Under Pressure
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage between Iran and Oman, has been a flashpoint throughout the conflict. Iran's warnings to shipping, combined with the mine threat, have forced tanker operators to weigh the risks of every transit — and every incident in the strait pushes global energy markets higher.
With the war now in its ninth month and no ceasefire in sight, Saturday's fires are a reminder that the conflict's most dangerous front may not be on land at all, but in the narrow stretch of water through which the world's oil flows.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters. The tanker incidents as reported could not be independently verified; casualty and vessel details come from Iranian military statements.