Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has reported this Wednesday that four tankers have been “destroyed” after hitting naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The military body has also added that its units shot down in the same area another Predator MQ-9 drone belonging to the United States Army.
“Four illegal tankers attempting to cross the prohibited area to the south of the Strait of Hormuz were destroyed when they collided with naval mines and are still burning,” it said, before emphasizing that “two other illegal vessels have been intercepted,” without further details.
Likewise, it has stated that its defense systems shot down the aforementioned drone in the Strait of Hormuz “using a modern defense system,” while underscoring that all these incidents constitute “hard blows to the enemy,” according to what was reported by the Iranian public television network IRIB.
Tehran has declared the closure of the Strait of Hormuz—an essential route for the transport of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to numerous countries—as a consequence of the offensive launched in February by the United States and Israel against the country, and has warned that it is only safe to cross it through corridors authorized by its Armed Forces.
Washington, for its part, maintains that there is no effective blockade in Hormuz because it retains military control of the strait, a presence which, it claims, is limited to the outer part of the passage, from where it escorts the vessels with the aim of ensuring that oil exports from the Near East continue.