Strait of Hormuz: Revolutionary Guards say three tankers hit mines on an “unauthorised” route – CENTCOM insists the main lanes are clear

A new dispute over mines in the Strait of Hormuz erupted on Thursday, October 29. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) announced that three tankers hit mines and burst into flames within the previous 24 hours as they tried to pass along the southern route of the Strait, which Tehran considers “unauthorised”. The claim comes just a day after US Central Command (CENTCOM) repeated that the main shipping lanes have been cleared of mines. The IRGC’s claims are reported here as its own and have not been independently confirmed.

The Guards’ statement, quoted by AFP, speaks of “three violating tankers” that “exploded and caught fire” after striking mines. The ships, the Guards claim, had switched off “all radar and navigation systems” and ignored warnings from the IRGC Navy. The Guards’ Navy warned ship owners and crews that the route “is mined”, that they bear responsibility if they follow it, and urged them to ignore the “hallucinations of CENTCOM on social media”.

Later the same day Iran’s regular army added a fourth vessel. In a statement carried by state television, it claimed that a tanker moving “illegally” in a “prohibited and dangerous area” east of the Strait hit sea mines, was damaged, caught fire and was immobilised.

CENTCOM: the main lanes are clear

Washington has repeatedly rejected Iran’s version of events on mines. CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper flew over the Strait in a CH-47 Chinook on Sunday, October 25, and said in a statement from the Command that “the main transit corridors in the Strait of Hormuz remain open and clear of Iranian mines”. CENTCOM says more than 3,000 merchant ships have passed in the last six months with the support of its forces, that since the summer Gulf countries have exported more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude with US help and that over 95% of ships crossed safely. We covered Cooper’s flight in an earlier report.

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi answered with a post on X: “Prove your claim of clearing mines in Hormuz with independent evidence, not with statements!” Similar claims of ships hitting mines have been heard for weeks, such as the claim on October 22 that four ships were hit.

UKMTO and the drone claims

The British maritime operations agency UKMTO recorded an incident on Thursday about 9 nautical miles north of Khasab, on Oman’s Musandam peninsula. The first report, of an incident at 03:00 GMT (05:00 Greek time), said the master of another vessel saw a ship on fire, with no information on the crew. In a later update UKMTO clarified that it was a traditional dhow, which listed and sank, while local authorities confirmed the crew was evacuated safely. The agency calls it a “maritime security incident” and asks ships to transit with caution.

The Guards added two claims about American unmanned aircraft. Their Aerospace Force says it destroyed an MQ-1, the 14th in its own tally, east of the Strait near Sirik in Hormozgan province, while their Navy says its electronic warfare unit captured an MQM-170 west of the Strait. The Guards made a similar claim of shooting down an MQ-9 on October 20.

Since the war began on February 28, Iran has drastically restricted traffic in the Strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and gas consumption passed before the conflict. The US responded with a naval blockade of Iranian ports and is helping tankers cross the passage. Tehran regards the southern lane near Oman’s coast as unauthorised and accuses CENTCOM of encouraging merchant ships to use it. For the broader picture see our Iran war timeline.