ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil struck a naval mine while attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, triggering an explosion and a major fire onboard, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday.
“The tanker had switched off all its positioning and radar systems in an attempt to pass through the Strait of Hormuz through deception and with the support of the smuggling and terrorist US military,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency.
Iran’s state-run Press TV released footage purportedly showing the supertanker engulfed in flames.
The incident comes amid a sharp escalation in attacks on vessels transiting the strategic waterway since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28.
According to a BBC Verify analysis of data from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), 12 vessels were attacked between October 5 and 11, the highest number recorded in a single week since the war began.
The Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a major flashpoint in the conflict between Washington and Tehran, with both sides using the strategic waterway as a means of exerting economic pressure.
US President Donald Trump has described the US naval blockade targeting Iranian shipping as “effective” in preventing Iranian vessels from passing through the strait.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, described Washington’s economic pressure on Tehran as a “foot on the neck of the Iranian economy,” citing “no oil going out,” a weakening currency and depleted reserves.
The escalating tensions have also rattled global energy markets, with Brent crude reaching $110 a barrel for the first time since May.
In its Saturday statement, the IRGC reiterated that the strategic waterway remained closed, warning vessels against violating Iranian restrictions.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed; for vessels that defy Iranian regulations in the Strait, the consequence of relying on the American ‘terrorist’ military is to end up consumed by fire.”
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical energy corridors, accounting for roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the outbreak of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.
