Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Friday that two oil tankers were involved in incidents and stopped in waters south of the Strait of Hormuz, after ignoring radio warnings and attempting to use what it described as an unauthorised route through the strategic waterway, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters via Duke FM
According to Iranian state media reporting carried by Euronews, the Guards said the tankers had switched off their navigation and positioning systems and were trying to leave the strait through routes Tehran opposes, and that one vessel was stopped in the eastern section and the other in the western section. The Guards gave no details about the tankers' identities, flags, the precise cause of the incidents or the condition of their crews.
Source: Euronews
Iran also said on Friday that it destroyed a US unmanned vessel in the eastern Strait of Hormuz. Reuters noted there was no immediate confirmation of that claim from the US military, and Awaaz Punjab is reporting it as an Iranian claim, not a confirmed event.
A second day of tanker incidents
Friday's announcement follows Thursday's incidents, reported earlier by this desk: the Guards said three tankers struck naval mines south of Hormuz and caught fire — a claim that was not independently confirmed — and, in a separate incident, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that a small boat attached two explosive devices to a tanker's hull near Khasab, Oman. Maritime sources identified that vessel as the Louise 1 and said its crew was safe and the fire was put out.
US Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper has previously said the strait's main shipping lanes were cleared of Iranian mines — a position that sits in direct dispute with Tehran's repeated claims of mine strikes on the southern route.
Hormuz is the world's most important oil chokepoint, and every new tanker incident moves crude prices and raises the risk for the Indian and Punjabi seafarers and Gulf workers whose livelihoods run through the strait. With Qatari mediators back in Tehran on Friday trying to revive a US-Iran deal, the shipping claims and the diplomacy are now running on the same clock.
What is solid
- The IRGC Navy issued the two-tanker statement on Friday, as reported by Reuters
- No tanker names, flags or crew details were given in the Guards' statement
What is only claimed
- What actually happened to the two tankers — Tehran's account is not independently confirmed
- Iran's claim to have destroyed a US unmanned vessel — no US confirmation