U.S. struck rocket launchers on Hormuz island hours earlier

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday that an unidentified supertanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz struck two sea mines, caught fire and came to a stop. The announcement came days after President Donald Trump and U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said the vital waterway had been cleared of explosive devices.

Last week, Trump said all mines planted by the IRGC in the strait had been cleared and that Iran had been warned that any ship planting new mines would be “destroyed.” Cooper later in the week echoed the claim, saying, “We have successfully cleared sea mines in the strait’s international shipping lanes.” Neither claim could be independently verified.

According to a statement from the IRGC Navy carried by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the vessel attempted to pass through what the IRGC described as an “illegal route south of the Strait of Hormuz” when it came into contact with the mines. The IRGC Navy used its announcement to repeat its standing warning to commercial shipping. “The IRGC Navy once again warns that the fate of ships that violate the security regulations of the Strait of Hormuz will be no different from this,” the statement said. “Compliance with the regulations issued by the IRGC Navy for passage through the strait is mandatory.”

According to the Hormuz Strait Monitor, only 8.3% of the normal daily volume of shipping passed through the strait in the 24 hours before the announcement, with hundreds of vessels waiting to transit. Trump has repeatedly maintained that vessels are free to make the crossing.

Hours before the IRGC’s Monday announcement, U.S. forces said they struck a pair of rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday — described as the first U.S. military action taken against Iran in weeks.

Since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, Iran has restricted commercial passage through the waterway using mines, drones and artillery. The U.S. military has been fighting to regain freedom of navigation through the strait.

The IRGC’s statement did not identify the tanker, its flag state, or its cargo. Neither the U.S. claim that mines had been cleared nor the IRGC’s account of the latest incident has been independently corroborated outside the parties’ competing statements.