Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy has said four oil tankers caught fire and exploded in the Strait of Hormuz while using what it described as unauthorised routes, according to Iranian state media reports published on 2 November. It said a fourth vessel, carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil, had hit a mine, exploded and was burning; an earlier statement described another tanker, also carrying about two million barrels, hitting a mine.

Separate maritime warnings

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported a vessel hit by an unknown projectile on its port side about 40 nautical miles south of Iran's Lavan Island, causing a fire on board, crew reported safe, no environmental impact reported. UKMTO also reported a crude oil tanker struck by an unknown projectile on an outbound transit. Whether UKMTO's vessels are among the four is unclear.

The strait carries around one-fifth of global oil supplies, and tensions there have persisted since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February. Iran has imposed restrictions on vessels passing through the strait and has attacked ships it says violate those restrictions, to assert control over the waterway.

Why verification matters

Reuters said it was unable to immediately verify the Iranian navy's statement, so readers should treat the account as a claim, not a confirmed casualty or damage report. State media also said Iranian forces had downed and captured a US drone over Qeshm island near the strait, unverified by Reuters, and that Iran had destroyed an unmanned US vessel - a claim US Central Command denied, saying all its unmanned surface vessels in the Middle East were accounted for. Until vessel names and independent evidence are confirmed, the full scale remains unclear.

Sources: Reuters via MarineLink, 2 November 2026; UKMTO reports as cited therein.