Iran’s IRGC Says Two Tankers Exploded in Strait of Hormuz

"No chemical fertilizer, oil or gas shipment through the strait will be safe"

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said two tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz exploded late on July 19, halting their voyages.

In a statement issued July 20, the IRGC said the vessels violated regulations while trying to enter and leave dangerous waters south of the Strait of Hormuz under what it called US incitement and coercion.

It said intervention by US forces, which it described as terrorists from thousands of kilometers away, had no legal justification and would draw a forceful response. As long as US actions in the region continue, no shipment of chemical fertilizer, oil or gas through the strait will be safe, it added.

The IRGC did not directly state what caused the explosions, but the statement suggested Iran’s military may have been involved. It warned that invading forces should prepare for a punitive operation over what it called the illegal violation.

The IRGC said a day earlier that two tankers trying to pass secretly through the Strait of Hormuz had suffered an accident and stopped. It was not clear whether those were the same two vessels it later said had exploded.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations said it had received a report of a fire aboard a ship about 15 kilometers from Oman’s Musandam Peninsula, near the center of the Strait of Hormuz.

The crew evacuated safely and were rescued by a tugboat, according to UKMTO.

Bloomberg reported that the tanker Cabo Maleas may have been targeted by Iran. The vessel transmitted a position signal on July 20 showing it anchored near the Musandam Peninsula. Its previous signal was recorded on the morning of July 19 in the Gulf of Oman. Bloomberg said this suggested the ship may have passed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf with its transponder turned off.

Kim Hee-seon, Hankyung.com reporter, gimme_sun@hankyung.com