The Iranian Revolutionary Guard stated this Wednesday that two ships have been hit in recent hours by mines while attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, while reiterating its warnings against traffic in the area amid tensions with the United States, including new exchanges of attacks in recent hours.
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Thus, it stated that the two ships, which have not been identified, “were forced to disembark their crews” and “were handed over to US agents to cross an illegal route” in this strategic passage. “They had to stop after hitting a mine and are on fire,” it said, according to the Iranian public television network, IRIB.
“The Revolutionary Guard Navy had already warned about the dangers of crossing the mined passage and, furthermore, double sanctions have been planned for shipping companies that, instead of following the legal route, fall for the US deception and leave their ships at the enemy’s disposal, measures that will be implemented soon,” it concluded.
The statement was published shortly after a Saudi company confirmed the death of two crew members of one of its ships following a “security incident” recorded late Monday while attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Iran has repeatedly spoken out against the viability of maritime transit through the southern corridor. In fact, when announcing last week a preliminary understanding with Oman for the management of traffic through the strategic passage, Tehran assured that the agreement includes the closure of this route, which the United States claims to control in coordination with regional partners.
For its part, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated on August 25 that the Strait of Hormuz is free of mines, while warning Tehran that “it will destroy any ship that tries to place them again in the strategic passage,” amid tensions and the lack of diplomatic progress for an agreement to end the conflict in the Middle East.
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