Iran’s Revolutionary Guards hit a US tanker in the Gulf this morning leaving it in flames, state media have claimed.
The IRGC the vessel is ‘currently burning’, according to Tasnim News Agency.
The Guards warned that Iran would ‘have control over the passage through the Strait of Hormuz’ in times of war.
Iran has effectively closed the strait since the outbreak of war with the US and Israel.
Tankers collecting from various ports on the Persian Gulf must go through Hormuz, a 60-mile-wide part of the Persian Gulf which has been at the heart of regional tensions for decades.
About a fifth of the world’s oil is transited through the shipping lane, which splits Iran on one side and Oman and the UAE on the other, and links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean.
Concerns have been raised about just disruptions to the flow of Gulf oil shipments to Europe, the US and Asia after Iran said it was ‘closing’ the shipping lane
A number of oil tankers have been hit by drones and maritime traffic through the region has dropped 80 per cent.
A Maltese-flagged container ship was struck by a projectile yesterday while travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.
The crew of Safeen Prestige was forced to abandon ship, shipping sources said, after being hit about two nautical miles north of Oman.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
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