The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced this Sunday a new detonation of a naval mine that would have hit a supertanker crossing the Strait of Hormuz, despite the closure of the area decreed by Tehran as retaliation for the attacks by the United States.
According to the account of the Iranian elite force, the tanker detonated a mine on Sunday afternoon while navigating through the southern sector of the Strait of Hormuz, which caused a strong explosion followed by a fire in the engine room.
The vessel was transporting crude oil and was leaving the Persian Gulf when, according to the Iranian version, "it turned off all its navigation systems and violated the current regulations in the Strait of Hormuz and suffered an accident while passing through an unauthorized route."
The Revolutionary Guard emphasizes that this is the third incident against a tanker in the last 48 hours for circulating in banned areas. In this context, it has reiterated its warning: "All vessels that turn off their navigation and identification systems will be considered hostile and will suffer the consequences with severity and decisiveness."
Tehran has declared the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key corridor for the exit of oil from the Persian Gulf to numerous countries, and maintains that it is only possible to cross it safely through the routes authorized by its Armed Forces. Washington, on the other hand, claims that there is no effective blockade of the passage, arguing that it militarily controls the strait, although its deployment is limited to the outer part of this strategic maritime route.