Iran Says Seven Tankers Were Hit in and Near the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy said on Thursday that seven oil tankers had been hit in and near the Strait of Hormuz, four of them set on fire and three damaged after striking naval mines. If the claim is verified, it would be the largest number of vessels damaged in the waterway in a single day since the United States and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.

What Tehran says happened

The Guard's navy said four vessels carrying out what it called illegal oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf were tracked by its forces on Wednesday, October 21, and then hit at the same time, catching fire, Reuters reported. Three more vessels collided with mines west of the Strait of Hormuz and were left damaged, the Guard added. Iranian state television carried the same account and said the four tankers were transferring oil when they were targeted.

The statement came with a warning. The Guard said continued American help for ships using what it called illegal passages through the strait could bring a wider response against United States bases in the region. Iran has struck at American bases in Gulf countries repeatedly since the war began.

No confirmation from shipping monitors

Neither report named the ships, their flags or any casualties. The Associated Press noted that United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, the British military centre that logs attacks on merchant ships, had not reported the incidents. Monitors have said in recent days that some shipping companies now avoid reporting attacks at all, which makes the count hard to check from outside.

The claim lands on a waterway already under strain. Reported attacks on ships around the strait reached a record 12 in a single week by October 19, according to UKMTO figures cited by Reuters, and oil exports through Hormuz have fallen from a peak of 17 million barrels a day in early October to about 11 million barrels a day. On October 17, Iran said two tankers had hit mines in the strait and caught fire.

Diplomacy in the background

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Wednesday, October 21, that Tehran stays open to diplomacy but is ready to defend itself. Iran has kept an offer on the table to end the war and fully reopen the strait within a week if the United States meets conditions that include lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. President Donald Trump rejected the latest version of that proposal, and both sides say indirect contacts continue.

Washington, for its part, is sending more forces to the region, including a third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops, the Associated Press reported. The buildup adds to the largest American naval and air force presence in the Middle East in decades. It comes days before close elections in Israel and less than two weeks before the United States midterm elections on November 3, in which high fuel prices tied to the war have angered voters.