Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Friday that four oil tankers, including one carrying more than 2 million barrels of oil, had hit mines and caught fire while travelling through the Strait of Hormuz. It said the supertanker struck a naval mine on a route Tehran calls unauthorized, and described it as the fourth tanker explosion that day. [E1] [E2] [E3]
The paper’s October 29 report concerned South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun’s statement that Seoul had made no decision on a possible deployment of military assets to the Strait of Hormuz. This report shifts the focus to the navigation risk now described above. [E15]
Iran has repeatedly warned vessels against passing through the strait without Tehran’s permission. Its report did not identify the vessels or give details about their crews, and the Associated Press said it could not verify the claims. [E4] [E5] [E6]
Oman said its navy evacuated 25 crew from the Panama-flagged commercial vessel RIT1 after it was attacked and caught fire about 1.6 nautical miles off northern Musandam; it said the Royal Navy coordinated with the Maritime Security Center on the evacuation. The Associated Press said it was unclear whether the incident was connected to the fires Iran described. [E7] [E8] [E12] [E13] [E14]
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency separately logged an incident 40 nautical miles south of Iran’s Lavan Island, reporting that an unknown projectile had hit a vessel and caused a fire. It said the crew were safe and that no environmental impact had been reported. [E9] [E10] [E11]