Tanker fire reported in Strait of Hormuz, Iran navy says
State media cites Iran's navy reporting a vessel ablaze east of the strait, the latest in a week of tanker attacks and sinkings
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Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
Iran's army navy says an oil tanker is on fire in the eastern Strait of Hormuz, according to state media.
The fire adds to a run of incidents in the strait that has picked up sharply since early October. A tanker caught fire in the same eastern stretch of the strait on Tuesday, and Iran's state news agency IRNA said that vessel had violated sanctions. On October 11, UK Maritime Trade Operations logged a container ship hit by an unidentified projectile. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on October 12 that a third supertanker had been struck in two days, and separately said the vessel had switched off its navigation system and ignored warnings as it tried to leave the strait.
CNN has reported, citing sources, that the United States is weighing the use of the GBU-57 bunker-buster bomb, a weapon built to destroy hardened nuclear sites, against Iran. President Trump has said a decision on Iran will come "very soon."
Each new incident undercuts claims in Washington of record flows through the strait and points to an unresolved standoff over the blockade, despite Oman's framing of talks as a way forward. With an Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy commander having vowed to target approaching US vessels directly, the quickening pace of strikes raises the chance of a disruption large enough to hit actual oil flows, not just sentiment, keeping crude oil's risk premium elevated.