Three Tankers in Iranian Account of Hormuz Fires; U.S. Military Says It Cleared Mines

Key Facts

The U.S. military said its forces had cleared sea mines from internationally recognized main transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said 3 oil tankers exploded and caught fire while transiting the strait on Friday, 30 October 2026. The U.S. announcement concerned shipping routes and sea mines and did not mean the strait was free of Iranian forces, according to the Associated Press. In the Revolutionary Guard’s account, one of the tankers was a supertanker that struck a mine and was carrying more than 2 million barrels of oil. The agency was unable to independently verify the Revolutionary Guard’s account of the tankers or their cargo. British and Omani maritime reports of other, separate incidents left the connection between the events on the ground unresolved.

The Revolutionary Guard said the three tankers exploded and caught fire while using a route it described as unauthorized, and that the supertanker was one of them. The Associated Press reported the Iranian account that the tanker struck a mine, but the agency was unable to independently verify that a collision occurred or the stated size of the cargo. Iranian authorities did not name the supertanker or provide details about its crew, according to the agency. This information limits the ability to verify the vessel’s identity and the fate of its crew, while the Iranian claims remained separate from reports by other maritime authorities. The available information did not establish that the incidents reported by those authorities were the same ones described by the Revolutionary Guard.

In another incident, the Associated Press reported, citing the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, that two explosive devices were attached to a tanker as it transited Hormuz on Friday. The center said the tanker was sailing about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, and that the devices exploded and started a fire in the engine room. The British account said the crew was safe and the fire had been extinguished, but the information provided did not identify the tanker or the party responsible. In a separate statement, Oman’s Maritime Security Centre said a Panama-flagged tanker was attacked near Musandam Governorate, 1.6 nautical miles from the coast. The center added that 25 crew members were evacuated; it was not clear whether the incident was linked to the other reported events.

U.S. Energy Information Administration data show a sharp decline in oil flows through the strait over recent quarters. Flows were 21.6 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025, before falling to 14.9 million in the first quarter of 2026 and then to 4.9 million in the second quarter. Flows had reached 20.9 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2025 and 21.0 million in the second quarter, according to the same table. Liquefied natural gas flows also declined, from 10.5 billion cubic feet per day in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 7.4 billion in the first quarter of 2026 and then 0.8 billion in the second quarter. The figures place tanker transit within the broader disruption to energy flows through one of their main maritime routes.

In its latest estimate, the Energy Information Administration forecast that oil flows from the Middle East would remain constrained in the fourth quarter of 2026, with average shut-in production of 4.5 million barrels per day. The agency estimated an average Brent spot price of $105 per barrel in that quarter, according to its October report. It had said Brent averaged $114 per barrel in September, up $23 from August, attributing the increase to more attacks on oil infrastructure and tankers in the Middle East. The agency also said shut-in crude production peaked at 10.9 million barrels per day in May, then fell to 5.8 million in August and 4.8 million in September. Oil tanker rates reached record levels in September as insurance costs rose, while the agency warned that crude flows through Hormuz and alternative routes would remain volatile; its next Short-Term Energy Outlook is due on 10 November 2026.