Tehran: The navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday that two “violating” oil tankers were disabled by explosions while crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night.
In a statement on the IRGC’s official news outlet, Sepah News, the navy said the two supertankers transited the strait despite frequent warnings from its centre for controlling traffic in the waterway about the “unauthorised and unsafe” nature of the southern route.
It added that the tankers were carrying more than 4 million barrels of oil in total, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The navy warned that the same fate will await any vessel that turns off its navigation systems in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf and cooperates with the U.S. military in crossing the waterway’s “unauthorised” southern route.
The Navy on Wednesday said a “violating” oil tanker caught fire earlier in the day after hitting naval mines east of the Strait of Hormuz.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday as the oil tanker was transiting the “unsafe and forbidden” region east of the waterway, the navy announced in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported. It said that its naval forces are monitoring the strait’s eastern waters, stressing that safe passage through the waterway requires coordination with the Iranian armed forces and compliance with maritime regulations.
Separately, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Ali Abdollahi on Wednesday warned the United States and Israel against making any new miscalculation, saying that “any point that serves as a focal point for threats against the existence of the sacred establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran will become a direct target of asymmetric operations.”
He said in a message carried by Iranian media that the armed forces would carry out orders issued by the country’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, without hesitation.
(IANS)
