IRGC calls claim that Strait of Hormuz was cleared of mines an "outright lie"
Key Facts
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Hossein Mohebi said on November 9 that claims by U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Central Command that the Strait of Hormuz had been cleared of mines were an "outright lie." He added, according to Press TV, that no one had dared to enter the strait to carry out mine-clearing operations. Mohebi linked his position to incidents involving oil tankers in the area, saying they proved, in his view, that Trump's claims about control of the strait and mine clearance were wrong. The statement comes amid conflicting accounts of the safety of navigation through the waterway. Claims about the incidents remain attributed to the sources that reported them.
Mohebi cited incidents involving tankers that he said either struck mines or were targeted while crossing unauthorized routes in the strait. In a report published on November 7, the Associated Press said the Iranian military reported that two tankers had struck mines in the Hormuz area and caught fire. The military did not identify the tankers' flags or destinations, according to the report. The account provides context for Mohebi's statement, but does not by itself prove whether mine-clearing operations took place. Details of the incident in the report remained limited.
On October 29, Iran attributed the collision of 3 oil tankers with mines and the resulting fires within 24 hours to their attempt to leave the strait via a route Tehran described as unauthorized. The Associated Press reported Iran's account, but said it was unable to confirm it or identify the vessels and details about casualties. The number of tankers and the circumstances of the incidents therefore remained part of an account the agency could not verify. The conflicting accounts reflect the difficulty of establishing the details of navigation amid rising tensions around the strait. Mohebi, meanwhile, attributed the more recent incidents to mines or attacks on vessels using unauthorized routes.
Against the backdrop of tensions, the Associated Press reported that October saw the highest number of attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since March. The agency linked the increase in attacks to Iran's effort to intensify economic pressure on the United States to push it to lift the blockade. This context adds to the competing statements about control of the waterway, while accounts of the incidents remain attributed to their sources. The events cited here included no data on oil price movements or the shipping market's response to the statements and incidents. They also contained no documented estimate of the impact of these developments on energy supplies.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly petroleum status report is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, 2026, after its schedule was changed because of the federal government closure on Wednesday, November 11. The agency set the release times at 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to its notice. The next report is due after Mohebi's statements on November 9, amid continuing disagreements over the status of mines and tanker incidents in Hormuz. Accordingly, no release date for that report is included among the confirmed upcoming developments here.