Tehran: Three vessels, including two oil tankers and a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier, changed course and turned back while seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz via a southern route after receiving warnings from the navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), media reported on Sunday.
Citing the latest maritime tracking data, the semi-official Fars news agency identified the vessels as Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Velos Amber, Liberian-flagged oil tanker Bravo and Marshall Islands-flagged LNG tanker Al Sheehaniya, which belongs to Qatar.
It added that the IRGC’s Navy had warned the three tankers that the southern route in the strait was closed.
The development comes amid a series of naval confrontations between Iran and the United States, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s aerospace forces attacked an aircraft carrier and a destroyer of the US military with several ballistic missiles after the vessels harassed Iranian ships and participated in the naval blockade against the country, the IRGC said on Sunday.
The two military vessels fled the conflict zone after suffering damage, the IRGC said in a statement published by its official news outlet, Sepah News.
It warned that if the “hostile and aggressive” actions continue, the US government must await “formidable” responses from the Iranian armed forces.
On Saturday night, the IRGC’s navy said it had targeted three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and three US-affiliated vessels elsewhere in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian tankers earlier in the day.
The three tankers struck in the strait were crossing the waterway via an “unauthorised” route, the navy said in a statement, adding that the other three vessels were hit in other regions.
On Saturday, US Central Command said on social media platform X that US forces had struck three Iranian crude oil carriers after the IRGC “launched ballistic missiles toward two US Navy warships patrolling regional waters.”
(IANS)
