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Strait of Hormuz: Iran says four oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy claims the blasts hit ships using unauthorised routes, while a separate maritime alert describes a tanker struck by a projectile, and the world's busiest oil lane is on edge again.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy says four oil tankers caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday after striking naval mines. Iranian state media carried the claim, which says the ships were using routes Tehran considers unauthorised. One vessel, the IRGC Navy said, carried more than 2 million barrels of crude when a powerful explosion set it ablaze.
The picture is not fully clear. The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency reported a separate incident: a crude tanker leaving the strait was hit on its port side by an unidentified projectile, roughly 40 nautical miles (74 km) south of Iran's Lavan Island. A fire broke out on board. The crew were safe, and UKMTO said no environmental damage had been reported.
It is not yet known whether the ship in the UKMTO alert is one of the four Iran describes. Note also the difference in accounts: Iran speaks of mines, while UKMTO's source speaks of a projectile.
Why should you care? The strait is a narrow channel that carries about one-fifth of the world's oil. When ships burn there, insurers, shippers and fuel traders take notice, and any lasting disruption can ripple into energy prices far from the Gulf. That can eventually show up in what importers like India pay for crude.
The incidents come against a tense backdrop. US-Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February left the waterway on edge ever since.
Iranian state media also said its forces shot down and captured a US MQM-170 drone over Qeshm Island, near the strait, and claimed to have destroyed an unmanned US vessel in the eastern Strait. There was no immediate US military response on the drone. US Central Command rejected the vessel claim on X, saying all American unmanned surface vessels in the Middle East are accounted for, including a squadron of sea drones on patrol in the strait.
Read the original report: Hindustan Times.
FiledUnited KingdomUnited StatesMiddle EastCrude OilIsraelNavy
