Iran Says Mines Set 3 Tankers Ablaze in Hormuz, Reports Fourth East of Strait

Key Facts

Iran said on 29 October that 3 oil tankers had struck mines and caught fire during the previous 24 hours, while the Iranian military later reported a fourth tanker had caught fire east of the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC attributed the first incidents to ships that tried to cross a southern route Tehran describes as unauthorized. The military’s report on the other tanker placed it in a restricted area east of the strait and did not say it had taken the same southern route. The two Iranian accounts therefore described incidents in separate geographic locations, according to the statements cited. The reported mine strikes could not be independently verified.

The IRGC said the three tankers had switched off their radar and navigation systems and ignored warnings from its navy, and that the damaged ships had been left off the waterway’s southern coast. Those details appeared in the IRGC’s statement about the three tankers, not in the military’s separate report on the fourth tanker. In the military’s account, the other tanker caught fire after striking mines in a restricted area east of the strait and was left unable to move. The cited Iranian report did not identify the tankers or their flags, and provided no details of injuries. The Associated Press said it could not confirm Iran’s account of the three tankers.

The two accounts came amid a dispute over the status of mines in the waterway. CENTCOM said the main internationally recognized routes had been cleared of mines and described Iran’s reports of commercial ships striking them as false. Hossein Mohebi, an IRGC spokesman, responded by demanding independent evidence that the mines had been cleared. “Prove your claim that Hormuz has been cleared of mines with independent evidence, not statements,” he said in a post on Thursday. The conflicting accounts leave the substance of the incident in dispute between Iran’s account and the US statement on the safety of the routes.

On 29 October, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency, or UKMTO, said it had received a report of a fire aboard a vessel in the strait. The agency did not identify the cause of the fire or confirm that the vessel was one of the tankers mentioned by Iran. It was also unclear when the incidents cited by the military and the IRGC occurred, or which flags the ships were flying. The lack of tanker names and precise location details limits the ability to match the separate reports with the two Iranian accounts. The available information does not independently confirm a link between the British fire report and either the fourth tanker or the three tankers.

Iranian media had previously reported on 17 October that two tankers caught fire after striking mines while crossing the strait, according to a report carried by Reuters. That earlier account also was not independently confirmed. The new report on 29 October adds a claim about 3 tankers during the 24 hours before Iran’s statement, followed by a separate account of another tanker east of the strait. The comparison highlights repeated Iranian claims of fires and mine strikes during the same month, while details about the ships and independent verification remain unavailable in the cited reports. The 17 October account concerned two tankers, while the 29 October account cited three, before the military added the claim about a fourth tanker.

In the market, Brent futures settled 44 cents lower at $114.88 a barrel in the 29 October session, while West Texas Intermediate futures fell 78 cents to $102 a barrel. Reuters attributed the declines to hopes for peace talks that eased some supply concerns, and did not link the drop directly to the tanker reports. Giovanni Staunovo, an oil analyst at UBS, said prices were under pressure from renewed diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East. A Reuters report published the same day said US Vice President JD Vance had sought to revive peace talks by sending a message to Mohsen Rezaei. The reports cited no confirmation of an agreement or a date for talks, while the dispute over mine clearance between Tehran and CENTCOM continued.