Today, Monday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) denied the validity of the Iranian story about an oil tanker colliding with sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that no ship had been subjected to an accident of this kind in the waterway.
Centcom confirmed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that a giant oil tanker crossing the southern route of the strait collided with two mines and stopped moving, but it stressed that this story was “untrue,” and described it as an attempt to intimidate commercial shipping movement in the region.
Iranian official media had previously reported from the Revolutionary Guard Navy that an oil tanker caught fire after colliding with two sea mines while trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz, without revealing the identity of the ship or providing information about its crew.
The Revolutionary Guard said that the tanker was trying to pass through a route that it described as “illegal,” warning ships against violating the traffic rules imposed by Iran in the strait.
The conflicting stories come amid renewed military tension in the region, after American forces carried out strikes on Iranian platforms on Lark Island near the Strait of Hormuz, while Tehran responded by launching missiles towards American bases in Jordan. Shipping traffic through the strait has also declined over the past months due to increasing security risks.
