CAIRO: Three oil tankers caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, Iran said, while the US military claimed it had disabled a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman as maritime incidents and unexplained explosions in southern Iran raised fears of renewed military escalation.
The developments came as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that his country’s mission against Iran ‘is still not complete’, while diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continued through Qatari mediation.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said three tankers had caught fire while travelling through an ‘unauthorised’ shipping channel in the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran has severely restricted maritime traffic since the outbreak of war.
‘Since the early hours of this morning, three non-compliant tankers have exploded and caught fire while they were sailing in the illegal channel in the Strait,’ the IRGC said.
Iranian media said two tankers had struck naval mines while attempting to pass through an unauthorised route. A third had suffered an explosion and caught fire, the semi-official Fars news agency reported later. Iran’s navy separately reported that an oil tanker had caught fire after striking a naval mine east of the strait.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations also reported that a tanker had caught fire off Khasab, Oman, on Saturday, forcing its crew to evacuate. It also reported another tanker being struck by an unknown projectile, while a separate incident involving a bulk carrier and military forces was reporte d approximately 18 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, the UAE National Guard said on Sunday that it hadrescued 22 people, all of whom are Arab nationals, from a cargo ship that caught fire in the Sea of Oman.
Separately, the US military said one of its aircraft had fired at the stern of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday evening, disabling it after the vessel allegedly attempted to breach Washington’s naval blockade.
Blasts in southern Iran Unexplained explosions were also reported in several parts of southern Iran on Saturday evening, including Qeshm Island, Sirik, Jask and Bandar Abbas.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the cause of the explosions remained unknown, although officials had confirmed an ‘impact’ in the portcity ofJask.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that two missiles had struck Qeshm Island, but Iranian state television said officials had not confirmed any missile strikes on Iran. It suggested the explosions might have been connected to Iranian military activities in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran dismisses US plan Separately, the IRGC dismissed a new US military initiative called Task Force Iron Gate. The unit is aimed at tightening economic pressure on Tehran by restricting weapons and sanctioned goods through its land borders and the Caspian Sea. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said the US would fail to achieve its objectives because Tehran had prepared for such measures and maintained close coordination with neighbours.
‘The Iron Gate plan is merely a wordplay. The Americans cannot achieve their objectives of imposing severe economic pressure to cause economic collapse in Iran through this approach,’ Mohebbi told Fars.-Agencies