In brief
An Iranian Navy statement confirmed that a tanker entered the restricted eastern Strait of Hormuz, disabled its navigation, struck a mine and caught fire on Saturday. The navy warned that other vessels ignoring warnings would face the same fate and reminded that Iran tightened controls on the strait on Feb. 28 after joint Israeli‑American strikes.
The Iranian Navy disclosed on Saturday that a “violating” oil tanker struck naval mines in the eastern waters of the Strait of Hormuz and caught fire earlier in the day. The statement, posted on the army’s website, came after the vessel had disabled its navigation systems and entered the forbidden and unsafe region east of the strait, ignoring the navy’s warnings.
According to the navy’s statement, the tanker’s transgression and subsequent fire serve as a warning that any vessel “that violates” the restrictions and ignores the navy’s alerts will face a similar fate in the waters of the strait.
Incident details
In a direct quote, the Xinhua report wrote that the tanker had "turned off its navigation systems" before it struck the mines and that the ship "caught fire" after the impact.
The incident comes amid Iran’s recent tightening of controls on the Strait of Hormuz. The country banned safe passage for vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States on Feb. 28, following joint strikes on Iranian territory.
An attempted report by IRNA’s English language outlet was not found at the link provided and returned a page‑not‑found error. No further details were available from that source at the time of writing.
