IRGC says gas carrier exploded after hitting sea mine south of Strait of Hormuz

A liquefied gas carrier exploded after striking a naval mine south of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement by the Public Relations Office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy Force, carried by Mehr News. The IRGC said the vessel had ignored repeated warnings and attempted to pass through an unauthorized and dangerous route in the area before the blast.

The IRGC stated that the ship had chosen to be escorted by American combat aircraft for its passage, and said it had failed to learn a lesson from the fate of previously exploded oil tankers. The force added that naval mines do not coordinate with what it described as the smuggling, aggressor US military to hunt their targets.

In its statement, the IRGC Navy declared that the Strait of Hormuz is being managed with absolute decisiveness and seriousness by the country's armed forces. It warned that any vessel attempting to violate Iranian regulations in the Strait, or disregarding warnings from the Strait's traffic control center and entering unauthorized and high-risk routes, will meet the same fate as previous such vessels.

The statement did not give details on the vessel's name, flag, crew, cargo volume, casualties or the exact timing of the incident. No independent confirmation of the account was immediately available in the report.

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil and gas passes. The IRGC's account refers to earlier explosions involving oil tankers in the same area, which the force cited as precedent for its warning.

According to Mehr News, the IRGC Navy issued the statement through its public relations office and framed the incident as a consequence of vessels disregarding instructions from the Strait's traffic control center.