TEHRAN, Sept 15: An oil tanker struck naval mines while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.
The IRGC said the supertanker El Gaia, which was attempting to pass through a restricted zone in the southern Strait of Hormuz, was hit by naval mines and caught fire. Efforts to extinguish the blaze were unsuccessful, it said in a statement issued on Monday.
However, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) rejected the Iranian claim, calling it false. According to CENTCOM, the tanker was struck and disabled by a missile allegedly fired by Iran last month.
CENTCOM further claimed that Iran struck the vessel again with a drone over the weekend while it was operating in waters off the coast of Oman.
"The tanker is currently being towed by a regional partner," CENTCOM said in a post on X.
The latest incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States and Israel. The conflict has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global route for the transportation of crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied natural gas.
The disruption has contributed to higher fuel prices in several countries and raised concerns over the impact on global energy supplies.
