Army of Iran claims oil tanker burned down in the Strait of Ormuz

O iran's army today announced that an oil tanker burned down in the Strait of Ormuz, where Tehran often targets vessels sailing without its permission.

Tehran claims control of this strategic maritime route, through which one-fifth of the world's hydrocarbons were transiting, prior to the war launched at the end of February by Israeli and American attacks on Iran.

In response, the United States imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and escorted oil tankers along this route.

“In the morning, an oil tanker who committed an infringement caught fire after reaching a naval mine in a dangerous and forbidden zone east of the Strait of Ormuz,” the Iranian army’s naval forces declared in a statement released by the state broadcast.

Such statements have become more frequent in recent weeks, while Washington claims to have carried out most of the demining of this crucial maritime route.

The name and nationality of the vessel have not been specified.

On Tuesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the country's ideological army, had indicated in several separate announcements that three vessels had burned in the strait.