Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said four vessels caught fire on Wednesday after its forces tracked and struck them during what it described as illegal oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf. The claims, made on Thursday, could not be independently verified by Al Jazeera.
The IRGC said the vessels were transferring oil between ships when they were hit simultaneously, leaving all four on fire. It also said three further vessels collided with mines west of the Strait of Hormuz and were disabled.
The force described the incidents as the largest single-day toll in the waterway since the United States and Israel began their war against Iran on February 28.
Iran’s armed forces have maintained control of the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, according to Tehran. Iran has said it will keep the strategic waterway closed until Washington meets its demands and takes steps to restore Iran’s trust.
The strait was a route for one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies before the war, Iran says. The reported incidents therefore sit within a wider dispute over transit through the waterway and over Iran’s asserted authority to control it.
The IRGC warned that US moves to help tankers pass through other parts of the strait could bring strikes against US bases across the Middle East. It said continued provocations could also prompt a wider response against American regional bases.
“The US military must know that if this trend continues, the conflict will extend to its bases in the region. This is a serious warning,” the IRGC said.
The warning follows an October 9 declaration in which the IRGC said action against vessels using unauthorised passages would extend beyond the Strait of Hormuz. It said vessels it considered to be in breach would be pursued across the region and punished.
President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s account on Thursday. “Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of oil prior to the US Midterm Election”, he said.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said: “They are making up fake hits, mines, and everything else because more oil is coming through the Hormuz Strait now than it did even prior to the beginning of the conflict.”
A US Central Command spokesperson said the strait remained open and that 95 percent of vessels were getting through. The command dismissed Iran’s mine claims as incorrect.
From Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall reported that Iranians expected a US attack even before US midterm elections in early November. The IRGC army chief has also said Iran is more ready than anytime before, and has produced enough weapons and equipment for a symmetrical war against the United States, according to reporting from Tehran.
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