Iran's IRGC Reports Two Tankers on Fire in Strait of Hormuz as Attacks Mount

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said two oil tankers caught fire Friday after navigating routes Tehran considers unauthorised in the Strait of Hormuz, with both vessels subsequently stopped in the waterway's southern waters.

The Guard said the tankers had switched off their navigation and positioning systems and were attempting to leave the strait through opposed routes with US military support, continuing despite repeated radio warnings. It gave no details on the vessels' identities, flags, crew conditions or the precise cause of the incidents.

In a separate incident, UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that a small boat approached an oil tanker Thursday evening and attached two explosive devices to its hull above the waterline. The devices detonated, sparking a fire in the engine room and temporarily disabling the vessel. The Financial Times identified the tanker as the Louise 1. The incident occurred about 25 nautical miles (46 kilometres) northeast of Khasab, Oman. The fire was extinguished, all crew members were safe, and the tanker resumed its voyage.

The attack appeared to mark the first reported successful use of limpet mines against a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Iran war began in February 2026.

Oman's Maritime Security Center separately reported that the Royal Navy of Oman evacuated 25 crew members from a Panama-flagged commercial vessel that came under attack and caught fire about 1.6 nautical miles off the Musandam coast. The crew received medical care; the vessel was not identified.

The incidents followed claims Thursday by the IRGC that three tankers had struck naval mines along the strait's southern route, and a report from Iran's regular military of another tanker fire in the eastern strait. Whether Friday's two IRGC-claimed tankers are distinct from those already reported remained unclear.

The events came as Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday to continue efforts to broker a US-Iran agreement.