Third tanker in two days hit on ‘unauthorized route,’ Tehran says, warning ships that switch off navigation systems will be treated as hostile
DUBAI, 12 October 2026 — A third oil supertanker in two days has exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Sunday, deepening a shipping crisis in the world’s most critical oil artery.
The IRGC Navy’s public relations office said in a statement carried by state media that a crude-laden supertanker hit a naval mine in the southern part of the strait on Sunday evening, triggering a powerful explosion and a fire in its engine room. The vessel, the statement said, had switched off all its navigation and identification systems and was attempting to leave the strait through a route Iranian authorities have declared off-limits.
The statement did not name the vessel or disclose its flag or country of ownership. Video footage released by Iranian outlets showed a large vessel engulfed in flames, with the blaze visible from the shoreline.
Third strike since Saturday
The IRGC said Sunday’s blast was the third such incident since the previous day. On Saturday, the Guard reported that a supertanker had been set ablaze after striking a naval mine while attempting to exit the strait on an “unauthorized and dangerous route,” and later announced a second vessel had suffered the same fate.
“All vessels within the Strait of Hormuz that switch off their navigation and identification systems will be identified as hostile and dealt with firmly and decisively,” the IRGC Navy warned, adding that a “massive fire is the fate of any violating tanker that seeks to ignore the security and rules of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The IRGC Navy’s commander, Major General Ali Azmaei, separately urged all vessels operating in the area against disabling their navigation systems, according to the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency.
UKMTO reports separate tanker hit
Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said early Sunday it had received a report that an outbound tanker in the strait had been struck on its port side by an unknown projectile, causing a fire on board. The agency said the crew was reported safe, though the extent of the damage and any environmental impact were unknown.
Trade sources said nearly all traffic through the waterway, which handles roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne crude, has come to rely on routes designated by the Iranian authorities, while ships attempting to avoid them face mounting danger.
Shipping crisis deepens
Reports compiled by shipping monitors suggest around 13 incidents involving tankers have been reported in the wider region in just over a week, including a drone strike on the tanker MT GEM NO. 2 off Sharjah on Saturday and a US military strike on a cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman.
The United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, and Tehran has repeatedly moved to close the strait. The US Central Command said in late August that international shipping lanes had been reopened after American forces cleared Iranian mines, but Iran announced on July 12 that it had again closed the waterway after US attacks resumed earlier that month.
Energy analysts said the repeated strikes were pushing freight rates and insurance premiums for Gulf shipping to emergency levels, with Brent crude remaining elevated as traders price in prolonged disruption. A memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on freedom of navigation in the strait, signed in June, has stalled over disagreements on security arrangements, state media reported.
