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DUBAI, Oct 30 (Reuters)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards\u00a0Navy\u00a0said on Friday that\u00a0four oil tankers\u00a0had caught fire and exploded in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, while attempting to use what it described as unauthorised routes, Iranian state media reported.<\/p>\n In its latest statement, the IRGC\u00a0Navy\u00a0said a fourth vessel, a tanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil, had hit a mine, suffered a powerful explosion and was burning.<\/p>\n An IRGC\u00a0Navy\u00a0statement\u00a0had said earlier that\u00a0one of the tankers, which was\u00a0also carrying\u00a02 million barrels of crude oil, had hit a\u00a0naval\u00a0mine.<\/a><\/p>\n Reuters was unable to immediately verify the statement.<\/p>\n Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said it had received a report\u00a0of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz. A verified source told the agency that a crude oil tanker was struck by an unknown projectile while completing an outbound transit of the waterway.<\/p>\n Earlier, UKMTO said it had received a report\u00a0that a vessel was hit by an unknown projectile on its\u00a0port\u00a0side about 40 nautical miles (74 km) south of Iran\u2019s Lavan Island, causing a fire on board. The crew were reported safe and there was no reported environmental impact, it said.<\/p>\n Lavan Island lies in the Gulf, off Iran\u2019s southern coast. It was not immediately clear whether the vessels cited by UKMTO were among the four tankers referred to by the IRGC\u00a0Navy.<\/p>\n Tensions have persisted in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which around one-fifth of global oil supplies pass, since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February.<\/p>\n State media said Iranian forces also downed and captured an MQM-170 US drone over Iran\u2019s Qeshm island near the Strait of Hormuz. There was no immediate reaction from the US military and Reuters could not independently verify the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Iran also said it had destroyed an unmanned US vessel in the eastern Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n But the US military\u2019s Central Command denied this and said in a statement on X: \u201cAll U.S. military unmanned surface vessels in the Middle East are accounted for, including a squadron of advanced sea drones on patrol in the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n ? CLAIM: Today, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it destroyed a U.S. military sea drone in the Strait of Hormuz. This claim is FALSE, just like many other IRGC lies this week.<\/p>\n ? FACT: All U.S. military unmanned surface vessels in the Middle East are\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/1h3mMLgJDY<\/a><\/p>\n
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