Last night in the Strait of Hormuz, two large oil tankers and a tugboat sustained fires and ceased movement after striking naval mines while attempting to navigate unauthorized transit routes.
Sea-news.az reports that the incident was detailed in an official statement released by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to the IRGC statement, two separate maritime incidents occurred overnight in the Strait of Hormuz. In the first event, a large crude tanker attempting to use an illegal route struck a sea mine, triggering an onboard fire and halting the vessel.
A second large oil tanker similarly attempted an unauthorized passage through the strait, striking a mine and bringing the vessel to a dead stop. A firefighting tugboat that arrived on scene to extinguish the blaze on the tanker subsequently caught fire as well.
“Simultaneously, the Naval Forces of the IRGC successfully took control of, grounded, and captured two US-owned ‘Lukas’ Unmanned Aerial Vehicles as trophies,” the statement added.
It should be recalled that the latest escalation in US-Iranian relations began on July 8. On that day, US forces launched a series of strikes inside Iranian territory—the first such military action following a memorandum signed between Washington and Tehran—claiming retaliation for an attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. On the same day, US President Donald Trump declared the suspension of the ceasefire agreement with Iran. In response, Tehran initiated missile and drone strikes against US military facilities located across Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Oman. As a result of the ongoing conflict, commercial maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted.
