Oil tanker hits mine in Strait of Hormuz and catches fire

In brief

• An oil tanker hit a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz on 27 October and caught fire, according to Iran's army.
• Iran says the ship left an approved route and turned off its tracking systems; no independent confirmation has been reported.
• Later incidents in the strait included a vessel fire on 29 October and three tanker explosions reported by the Revolutionary Guards on 30 October.

Explosion east of the strait

Iran's army said the tanker hit a mine in an area east of the Strait of Hormuz that it describes as restricted and dangerous. The blast caused damage and a fire on board (Ropný tanker narazil v Hormuzskom prielive na mínu. Po zásahu začal horieť – Aktuality.sk).

Iran blames the ship's conduct

According to the army, the vessel had turned off its monitoring systems and tried to cross the zone without following the approved route. The army described the ship as having broken the rules, though it did not say who had laid the mines.

Series of incidents

The Strait of Hormuz has seen several recent fires at sea. Later reports described further incidents. On 29 October, a fire broke out aboard a vessel in the strait, and the fate of its crew was unknown (Ďalší incident v Hormuzskom prielive: Plavidlo zachvátili plamene, osud posádky je neznámy – Pravda.sk). On 30 October, Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy said three oil tankers had exploded and caught fire after ignoring radio warnings and sailing outside the designated route. Authorities evacuated 25 sailors from one of the ships (V Hormuzskom prielive zachvátili tankery plamene, z jedného evakuovali 25 námorníkov – Aktuality.sk).