Iran says it hit four ships in the Gulf, threatens US bases
The Revolutionary Guard navy says four ships transferring oil in the Persian Gulf were set on fire, and that three others struck mines.
The navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday, October 22, that it simultaneously hit four ships carrying out ship-to-ship oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf, and that all four caught fire. The Guard adds that three other ships struck mines west of the Strait of Hormuz the previous night, caught fire and were stopped. That makes seven ships in total, and none of these claims has been independently confirmed.
What did the IRGC say about the four ships it hit?
According to the statement, Guard forces tracked the four ships on Wednesday, October 21, before striking them. The IRGC calls oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf illegal. It says it had earlier warned shipping companies not to break navigation rules, and that the US military pushed them to do so. The statement calls the US military the aggressor.
The Guard did not publish the names of the ships, their flags, their owners or any casualty figures. Reports on the statement also differ in their headlines: some stress the four ships hit and the three that struck mines, while others speak of seven ships in total.
Why is the Guard threatening US bases?
The IRGC accuses the US military of continuing to encourage ships to pass through an unauthorized route in the mined area, which, according to the statement, has led to a growing number of maritime incidents. The Guard therefore warns that continued pressure of this kind could widen the conflict to US bases in the region. It closed the message with a line we quote word for word:
“This is a serious warning”
The warning came from the navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
What came before this statement?
The threat is not entirely new. On October 9, the IRGC issued a declaration announcing that actions against ships using unauthorized passages would not be limited to the Strait of Hormuz. It said violators would be pursued across the region and that violations would be punished.
Iran’s military has controlled the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran on February 28. Tehran says it will not reopen the waterway until Washington meets its demands and takes steps to restore Iran’s trust.
We covered earlier developments in the same area on October 21: a missile that hit a tanker off Oman, and Araghchi’s plan for Hormuz. The Guard’s new statement should be read as part of the same sequence, with the caveat that for now it rests solely on the Iranian side.
