Iran's Revolutionary Guards report LNG tanker mine blast in Hormuz and radar strike in Bahrain

The tanker explosion

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday, 13 November, that a liquefied natural gas tanker had hit a sea mine in the Strait of Hormuz and exploded violently. According to the Guards, the vessel ignored Iranian warnings and tried to pass through an unauthorised route in the south of the strait. The statement did not give the vessel's name or flag. Iranian state media carried the account, and Mehr News described the route as unauthorised and dangerous. Tehran wants ships entering or leaving the Persian Gulf to use only the northern route along its coast.

Claimed strike on a US radar site

The Revolutionary Guards also said they had attacked a US early-warning radar installation in Bahrain and destroyed it. They framed the strike as retaliation for an air attack on a telecommunications tower in the port city of Sirik in southern Iran. Neither Bahrain nor the United States had confirmed the attack when the reports were published. The Guards' statement was circulated by state broadcasting on Telegram and included a warning:

“This is a serious warning to the hostile aggressor to stop its aerial provocations and its oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz.”

A run of ship explosions

The Guards reported explosions on ships in the strait for a fourth consecutive day. Iranian military statements cited by dpa and newsORF put the count at at least twelve oil tankers and one gas tanker since Sunday, 8 November. Those figures come from Iranian military statements, not from independent observers. The gas tanker was reportedly accompanied by US fighter jets, according to Iranian sources cited by Berliner Zeitung.

Oil tankers (at least)12

Gas tanker1

Oil tankers (at least)

12 vessels

Gas tanker

1 vessels

Data from the article text

Background: war, blockade and mines

Reuters reports that the United States and Israel went to war with Iran on 28 February, and that Tehran has since tried to restrict shipping through the strait. Washington responded by imposing a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Dpa reports that much of Iran's navy was destroyed in the Israeli-American strikes, yet Iranian forces appear able to fire cruise missiles from land and lay sea mines. For several months the US military has tried to restore trade in oil and liquefied gas by escorting civilian ships. According to the United States, the strait is again largely free of mines, a claim that Spiegel reports alongside the Iranian accounts.