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IRGC Says Explosions Disabled Two Oil Supertankers in Strait of Hormuz, Threatening Key Shipping Route
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy says two oil supertankers were disabled by explosions in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring routing warnings, raising uncertainty for crews, shipowners and insurers moving crude through one of the world’s tightest energy corridors.
Explosions that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy says disabled two oil supertankers in the Strait of Hormuz would, if confirmed, raise fresh doubts about the safety of the narrow channel that carries much of the Gulf’s seaborne crude.
The Guard’s naval arm reported on 12 November that two supertankers were hit by blasts and left unable to maneuver after they ignored warnings and took what it called an unauthorized route. The statement did not identify the ships, their flags, owners, or precise location, and there were no matching reports from shipowners, tracking services or coastal states. At this stage, the incident remains an Iranian military claim rather than a documented casualty.
The Strait of Hormuz, squeezed between Iran and Oman, is the only sea outlet for most Gulf oil and gas exports. Supertankers there move millions of barrels of crude and condensate, along with liquefied natural gas cargoes. When a loaded tanker is reported disabled in such a confined passage, bridge officers and crews on other ships immediately reassess the risks of every transit.
For shipowners and charterers, any credible threat in Hormuz quickly feeds into higher war‑risk premiums, stricter routing orders and possible delays while captains wait for naval escorts or insurance sign‑off. Refiners and traders focus less on a single ship and more on whether repeated incidents could make Gulf routes costlier or politically sensitive, especially for buyers in Asia who depend heavily on these flows.
Iran framed the reported explosions as a response to tankers using a route it had not approved, implying a claim to enforce its own navigation rules in a waterway that many states see as an international strait with guaranteed transit passage. If foreign operators conclude that Iranian forces might disable ships over routing disputes, that adds to the uncertainty in an already militarized zone of patrol boats, missiles and drones.
The claim fits into a longer pattern of Gulf incidents, from past limpet mine attacks on tankers off Fujairah to vessel seizures linked to sanctions disputes and close encounters between Iranian craft and U.S. or allied warships. Those episodes have previously been enough to push up insurance costs and disrupt schedules even without a formal blockade.
Risk in Hormuz often shows up first in behavior, not declarations: more cautious ship routing, higher premiums and nervous crews.
The next firm signals will likely come from outside Iran: satellite and ship‑tracking images that might show disabled hulls, statements from flag states or owners, and guidance from marine insurers on any change in how they price voyages through the strait. Adjusted patrol patterns or new transit advisories from regional or Western navies would indicate they see this as more than rhetorical pressure.