Iran Claims 3 Tankers Hit by Mines in Hormuz; Independent Verification Unavailable
Key Facts
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said 3 oil tankers were hit by sea mines and caught fire in the 24 hours before October 29 as they tried to leave the Strait of Hormuz via a southern route Tehran described as unauthorized. The Associated Press quoted the Guard as saying the tankers "struck mines and caught fire in the past 24 hours." Iran’s account did not name the vessels or provide details of any casualties. The agency said it could not independently verify the claim. The tanker claims therefore remained separate from the maritime incident reported near the Omani coast.
The agency quoted Iran’s navy as saying the tankers had switched off their radar and navigation systems and ignored warnings. The navy added that the vessels were left off the waterway’s southern coast, as it accused them of using the route Tehran considers unauthorized. In a separate account, Iran said another tanker caught fire east of the strait after striking sea mines and was left unable to move by the damage. Iran’s military said the vessel was operating illegally in a restricted and dangerous area. The account carried by the agency gave no independently sourced details identifying the tanker or confirming the cause of the fire.
In a separate incident near Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a vessel caught fire and then sank 9 nautical miles north of Khasab on October 29. Arab News, citing Agence France-Presse, reported that local authorities identified the vessel as a dhow and that its crew was safely evacuated. This means the incident attributed to the agency involved a vessel near Khasab and does not substantiate Iran’s claims that oil tankers were targeted. AFP reported that U.S. Central Command said the main shipping lanes had been cleared of mines. Iran, meanwhile, describes the southern route near the Omani coast as unauthorized, putting the safety and routing of transit at the heart of the dispute.
The developments matter beyond the vessels involved: about one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas consumption normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz, according to AFP. U.S. Central Command said on Sunday that it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through the strait since the summer. Commercial shipping attacks in the strait and surrounding waterways reached a monthly record in October, Reuters reported. The Washington Institute’s tracker counted 28 confirmed or reported attacks during the month through October 23, and 113 since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28. The figures show the widening disruption to navigation in a region that carries large energy flows, while the parties’ accounts of incidents and the safety of the waterways diverge.
The disruption to navigation has also raised the cost of shipping crude, according to International Energy Agency data. The cost of shipping crude from the Gulf to Asia on a large tanker exceeded $37 per barrel by mid-October, more than five times its prewar level. Rates to charter very large crude carriers on the same route also topped $1.3 million a day in mid-month. The agency said the higher cost of landed crude pushed refining margins at Asian refineries processing Middle Eastern oil into negative territory in September. It linked the pressures to congestion around Hormuz, trade rerouting and ship-to-ship transfers, factors that extend delivery times and reduce fleet efficiency.
The International Energy Agency said shipping rates could remain elevated for some time even if security conditions in the Gulf improve, as exports remain high, efforts continue to rebuild depleted crude and oil product inventories, and inefficiencies in shipping routes persist. On the political track, the Associated Press reported on October 22 that Iran was still proposing an end to the war and the full reopening of the strait within a week if the United States met conditions including ending its blockade of Iranian ports. The agency said Washington rejected the proposal, while indirect contacts continued. At the same time, it said tankers continued to carry oil through the strait under U.S. military protection, using a route near Oman. Some of the tankers transfer oil to other vessels waiting in the Gulf of Oman to ship it to customers in Asia, operations that can take several days.