The situation in the Strait of Hormuz continues to be tense. On Saturday October 17, the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful armed force, claimed that two oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines.
An offending supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil, attempting to illegally cross the Strait of Hormuz, hit a mine, causing an explosion and a violent fire, the Guardians initially announced without specifying the exact location.
Later, they announced that a second offending supertanker had been ravaged by a massive fire after hitting a mine, adding that it was also carrying more than two million barrels of crude.
Iran claims control of this strategic sea route, through which a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons transited before the war started at the end of February by Israeli-American strikes against Tehran.