The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Saturday night that an unnamed crude oil supertanker hit a naval mine and suffered a major fire while using an unauthorised route in the waterway with navigation systems turned off. In a statement, it warned of a similar fate for any oil tanker that “wishes to ignore the security and rules” of the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes in peacetime.
A senior Iranian army official, Habibollah Sayyari, said on Sunday that the country's forces remain prepared for both defensive and offensive operations, more than seven months since the United States and Israel started the war by attacking Iran on February 28. “We have struck blows against enemy vessels. If anything else happens against Iran, we will strike them again,” said Sayyari, the army's chief of staff and joint coordinator.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported several incidents of military action or warnings against vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman over the past day, including a directive for ship masters near Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to move from their anchorages. On Sunday afternoon, UKMTO reported that an unidentified projectile had struck a tanker heading outbound through the Strait of Hormuz.
Separately, the UAE said its coastguard had rescued 22 crew members after a fire broke out at an unnamed tanker close to its shores, though it did not identify the cause of the blaze.
Early on Sunday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) released footage of a fighter jet bombing the stern of a Panama-flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman and disabling its propulsion to enforce its naval blockade of Iran's southern ports. Since the US reimposed the blockade in mid-July, CENTCOM says its forces have disabled four commercial vessels, turned around 135 ships and destroyed 10 tankers linked with Iran. Washington says Tehran has exported no oil through the blockade line.
The recent surge in attacks follows at least a dozen ships being attacked over the week ending on October 5, the highest number since the war began, with at least one hit off the north coast of Qatar.