Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Saturday that two oil tankers exploded and caught fire after entering a minefield it says was laid in the southern approach to the Strait of Hormuz, an assertion the United States military quickly dismissed as untrue.
In a statement carried by the state news agency ISNA, the Guard said, "An hour ago, two oil tankers, which were trying to pass through the minefield south of the Strait of Hormuz by deceptive American intelligence agencies, exploded and caught fire." Iran's state broadcaster IRIB, citing military sources, added that the vessels had ignored warnings from the Iranian Navy before entering the route. Neither Iranian outlet identified the tankers involved, and no flag, ownership, or cargo details have been released.
US Central Command rejected the claim outright. "Like most IRGC claims, this is false," the command wrote on X, offering no further elaboration. No international maritime monitoring group, shipping insurer, or tanker tracking service had corroborated the incident as of Saturday, and there was no immediate word of casualties or of any vessels reported missing or diverted in the area.
The Guard separately said it had "stopped" four additional ships attempting to transit the strait in recent hours, describing them as "violating ships" operating "with the support of the terrorist US army," and claimed they were halted during a combined naval and missile operation. That claim, too, has not been independently confirmed.
The IRGC used the episode to reiterate its broader position that the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil and gas trade passes, is now unsafe for transit. The Guard has been directing tankers and cargo vessels toward channels closer to Iran's own coastline in the strait's north and away from the southern corridors that the US Navy has been working to keep open, part of a maritime standoff that has left the strait effectively contested for more than a week. The United States, for its part, has reimposed a naval blockade against Iranian ports in response to Tehran's threats against shipping.
The disputed tanker claim comes amid a rapid escalation between Washington and Tehran, with the US carrying out a seventh consecutive night of airstrikes on Iranian territory and Iran firing missiles and drones at American forces and allied Gulf states including Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. CENTCOM announced Saturday that two American service members were killed and a third went missing in action defending against an Iranian barrage on US forces in Jordan, the first US military deaths of the renewed conflict.
As with much of the information emerging from both sides during this escalation, the tanker claim could not be verified at the time of writing. This article will be updated if independent confirmation, denial, or additional detail becomes available.
Sourcing note: This report is based on statements from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps carried by ISNA and IRIB, and on CENTCOM's public denial. The claim remains unverified by independent maritime authorities.
