IRGC Iran Stops Three Oil Tankers in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday it had stopped three oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz. One of the vessels caught fire after an explosion. “Three oil tankers, provoked and enticed by the child-killing American army, attempted to cross the mined southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, but after one exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and retreated,” the IRGC said in a statement cited by Iranian state media. The IRGC also warned that any ship “deceived” by the United States and intending to cross without Iran’s approval “will suffer the same fate”. On Wednesday, US forces launched strikes on various areas in Iran for the twelfth consecutive night. Iranian state media reported that US missiles struck locations near the cities of Ahvaz, Ramshir, and Andimeshk in western Iran, hit a power plant near the Bushehr nuclear facility in southern Iran, and killed two people in the city of Shalamcheh on the Iran-Iraq border. US Central Command said the strikes were intended to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters”, as both sides vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump had earlier warned on Wednesday that the US would “bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant” for every ship Iran fires upon in the strait. On the same day, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on social media platform X that Iran would adopt an “eye for an eye” defence doctrine. “Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will be met with a forceful and decisive response,” Araghchi said.