The Iranian Revolutionary Guard this Sunday communicated the alleged “sinking” of two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, after they attempted to cross this strategic sea route without permission from Tehran and ended up colliding with naval mines.
“In the last hours, two oil tankers have suffered enormous explosions after hitting a naval mine during a crossing not authorized via the southern route” of the Strait of Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military and ideological force of the Iranian Armed Forces, explained in a statement.
According to this body, the ships “attempted to cross in secret with deception and supported by the criminal U.S. army by turning off all their identification and positioning systems.” “Now they are burning after hitting naval mines and causing very violent explosions,” it said.
One of the ships involved was “a supertanker that was transporting more than two million barrels of crude,” which “sank in the waters south of the Persian Gulf after an explosion and a very serious fire.” Iranian authorities had already reported on Saturday that up to three oil tankers had been affected by detonations of sea mines in the area.
Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed— a key corridor for the transit of crude from the Persian Gulf to numerous countries— in response to the offensive launched in February by the United States and Israel against the country, and has emphasized that it only considers routes previously authorized by its Armed Forces to be safe.
The United States, on the other hand, says that there is no effective blockade of Hormuz, arguing that it maintains military control of the strait on its outer part, where it claims to escort merchant vessels to ensure that the export of oil from the Middle East continues to international markets.