Several powerful explosions reported in the south of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday may have been triggered by oil tankers hitting naval mines, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB has reported, citing unnamed military sources.
The number of affected ships and casualties from the incident is still unknown.
Iranian military sources said the oil tankers were using “unauthorised” routes in the sea passage, according to IRIB.
The UK Royal Navy’s UKMTO maritime security agency, which acts as the primary contact point between military forces and commercial shipping, hasn’t publicly shared details of any incident on Thursday.
Last week saw the biggest number of attacks on tankers in the key waterway since the Iran war began in late February.
Between 28 September and 5 October, there were at least 12 attacks on oil, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas tankers around the Strait of Hormuz, maritime security sources said.
Attacks, attempted attacks and harassment activity including drone overflights, surveillance and hailing using VHF radio by Iran's Revolutionary Guards have persisted in the strait, the U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) said in a note on Sunday.
“These actions continue to demonstrate Iran’s intent to assert presence along key transit lanes and maintain pressure on transiting vessels,” the JMIC said.
Iran has now warned nearby countries that any attempt to open new routes for oil exports would be considered hostile, a senior regional official close to Tehran said.
“Iran has absolutely no intention of allowing control of the Strait of Hormuz to slip from its hands, and has plans ready to block routes that some regional countries have for exporting oil,” a senior diplomat in the region briefed by Tehran said separately.
“This could involve missile and drone attacks on ships, or sending boats to scare ships away,” the diplomat added.
In recent months, Gulf oil producers have rushed shipments of oil through channels that hug the Omani side of the strait before transferring the oil in open waters in the Gulf of Oman with aerial support from the U.S., sources said.
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