The force said the tanker suffered an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz on 13 November after taking a route Iran had not authorized. The vessel’s identity and condition remain unknown.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy said a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) struck a naval mine and suffered an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz on 13 November. Reuters cited Iranian state media for the account and said no details about the tanker were immediately available, including its identity or condition.
The navy said the tanker ignored repeated warnings and attempted to use a dangerous southern route in the eastern strait that Iran had not authorized. The explosion and its cause remain claims by the Iranian force.
The claim follows Iranian media accounts on 12 November that 4 oil tankers were hit by explosions in the waterway, which is important to global shipping. The LNG tanker is a separate reported incident.
Attacks on tankers have continued during the US-Israeli war on Iran, even as traffic has rebounded. Data from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy counted 37 attacks in October, the highest monthly total since the war began in late February, and at least 10 ships hit during 1–10 November.
In a November 12 advisory, UK Maritime Trade Operations cited the Joint Maritime Information Center in describing the threat level in the strait as critical and the likelihood of further attacks as very high. The center warned that vessels could face additional attacks, particularly near Oman’s Musandam coast.
The Revolutionary Guards navy is a maritime branch distinct from Iran’s conventional navy, with a doctrine emphasizing asymmetric tactics including fast-attack craft, anti-ship missiles and naval mines. A dpa report carried by Ghana News Agency said the US Navy had escorted civilian vessels through the area for several months in an effort to restore oil and LNG transport.
The Guards said the strike answered an attack on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran; the Guards-affiliated Fars news agency said the radar was destroyed.
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An unidentified projectile hit Dominica Prosperity’s engine room off the UAE on 11 November, starting a fire. Firefighters were still working aboard the tanker when a warning was issued the next day.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy says the vessels ignored warnings against using what it called an “unauthorised route” through the strait, a key passage for global oil shipments.
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