Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy has claimed that tankers using an unauthorised route in the Strait of Hormuz struck naval mines, in a statement that has not been independently verified.

The claim, issued on Monday 2 November 2026 through the Guard's Sepah News outlet, said the vessels had their navigation and identification systems switched off and were on an unauthorised route, and that a supertanker suffered a massive explosion and was burning. Reuters said it was unable to immediately verify the statement. Reports differed on the number of vessels involved: an earlier report put the figure at two tankers, while a later Reuters report put it at four, with a fourth carrying more than two million barrels of crude.

A separate UKMTO report

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre received a report of a crude tanker struck by an unknown projectile about 40 nautical miles south of Iran's Lavan Island, with fire on board and crew reported safe. UKMTO and Reuters could not confirm that this was the same incident as the one described in the Iranian claim, and the two reports should not be merged.

The Strait of Hormuz carries about one-fifth of the world's oil supplies, so any incident there is watched closely by energy markets and shipping insurers. Iran tightened control of the strait on 28 February 2026 after US-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to the reports, but the cause, the vessels involved and any casualties in the latest claim remain unconfirmed.

Sources: Reuters via MarineLink, 2 November 2026; Xinhua via IANS, 2 November 2026. Presented throughout as an IRGC claim, not as verified fact.