The Revolutionary Guards said four tankers were attacked while transferring oil to other ships, and fires broke out on them, in a statement issued on Thursday, 22 October.
The Guards said three more ships struck mines west of the Strait of Hormuz during the night, with fires reported on them.
The Guards called passage through the strait illegal and warned of a wider response against US bases in the region if provocations continue.
On Wednesday, 21 October, two people, a Philippine and a Nepali national, were killed and two Pakistani and Indian nationals were injured by falling debris after a drone was intercepted near the Chaybah oilfield.
State news agency IRNA reported explosions heard on Wednesday, 21 October, in the Karpan area of Sirik, Hormozgan province, with the nature of the blasts not yet revealed.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday, 22 October, that several oil tankers were on fire in the area of the Strait of Hormuz. The Guards said four tankers were attacked while transferring oil to other vessels, and three more ships struck mines during the night. They described the four vessels as involved in illegal oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf, saying their forces had located them on Wednesday. The Guards argued that passage through the strait is illegal and warned that continued provocations, including encouraging ships to sail through mined areas, could lead to a wider response against US bases in the region. The claims could not be independently verified.
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The United States Navy has for several months escorted civilian ships along the Omani coast to restore trade in oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Tankers usually transfer their cargo to ships waiting nearby once they have passed through the strait. Iranian forces have intensified attacks on shipping in the strait, generally hitting tankers and cargo ships that use a southern route close to the Omani coast. The Guards' statement describes the attacks as falling on ships at that transfer stage, with four tankers reportedly hit while transferring cargo.
Explosions were heard on Wednesday, 21 October, in Hormozgan province, the southern Iranian province that overlooks the strait, according to the state news agency IRNA. IRNA said the blasts were heard in the Karpan area of Sirik. The agency added that local sources had not yet revealed the nature of the explosions. The reported blasts occurred in a province that overlooks the same waterway where the ship incidents were reported.
On Wednesday, two people were killed and two others were hurt by falling debris after the interception of a drone aimed at a facility in the Chaybah oilfield, in the oil-rich east of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Energy Ministry said. The dead were a Philippine and a Nepali national, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals. The ministry's statement did not say where the drone came from.
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Separately, the Israeli army briefly detained a US congressional candidate on Wednesday while the candidate was accompanying Palestinian farmers at the olive harvest in the occupied West Bank. The area has seen Israeli settlers increase violence during the harvest. Reporting at the time gave no further details on that detention.
The Guards' figures on the tankers and mine strikes have not been independently confirmed. The Saudi ministry did not identify the origin of the drone, and IRNA did not describe the cause of the blasts in Hormozgan. Early reporting had no information on the current situation or the identity of the vessels said to have been hit.
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Iran's Revolutionary Guards said four tankers were hit while transferring oil and three ships struck mines overnight. The claims could not be independently verified, and the Guards threatened to widen attacks on the United States.
AI text based on reports by 7sur7, der Standard, newsORF.at and other publishers. Published .