IRGC claims fires on two tankers and a tugboat, as Tehran exempts four countries’ ships from Hormuz curbs

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Thursday that two oil tankers and a tugboat had caught fire in separate incidents in the Strait of Hormuz^1,12. The IRGC said the vessels caught fire after attempting to use unauthorized routes³, and described them as having passed through the strait illegally¹³.

The IRGC Public Relations Office announced the incidents in a statement released on Thursday morning¹³. Another account of the IRGC statement put the number at three vessels, including two supertankers, on what the IRGC calls an illegal route². The coverage attributes the incidents to the IRGC’s own statement^6,11.

The IRGC also claimed it captured two US drones¹⁰. The claims follow earlier reports of mine hits and tanker fires on the waterway⁸.

Why it matters to investors

The incidents keep shipping risk in play in a vital conduit for global energy supplies⁵. The US-Iran war that began on February 28 has disrupted shipping through the strait⁵. Iran has continued attacking vessels in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz even as President Trump’s Republican Party conceded political defeat in the midterms⁴.

Iran also signalled who may pass. An Iranian official told a semi-official news agency that ships from India, China, Iraq and Qatar are exempt from its transit restrictions in the strait⁷. The IRGC warned against passing through routes it considers unauthorized, and claimed that unfreezing blocked Iranian assets could have averted the financial costs involved¹⁰.

Iran reported the further tanker fires on Thursday⁹, adding to a series of incidents on one of the world’s most important energy routes⁵.

The incidents add to the strain on traffic through a waterway that is a vital conduit for global energy supplies⁵, and they were reported on the same day that Iran said it would exempt four countries from its restrictions⁷.

What to watch

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned against expecting a change in US policy after the elections¹⁴. That stance leaves the strait’s status tied to the war rather than to Washington’s politics^5,14.

Shipping companies and insurers will weigh whether Iran’s exemptions for four countries⁷ create a two-tier route through the strait, and whether more vessels avoid the routes the IRGC labels illegal^3,13.