Iran strikes oil tanker that hid its location to slip through Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday (local time) that it struck a very large oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz — the third such attack on an oil tanker in the strait in two days, since Sunday.

The IRGC Navy's public affairs office said through its official outlet Sepahnews that "a third very large oil tanker was struck and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday morning." The IRGC Navy said the tanker had earlier switched off its navigation equipment and ignored warnings from its forces, and that it was struck because it "attempted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while disrupting order and security in the strait."

The IRGC warned that "any merchant vessel or oil tanker operating in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf that cooperates with the 'American terrorist army' or smugglers will face a decisive response."

The tanker appears to have been detected and attacked by the IRGC after attempting to transit the strait with its navigation systems switched off to conceal its location — a pattern seen with other vessels recently passing through the waterway. A 28-second video released by the IRGC showed smoke billowing from the tanker. The vessel bore the name AL MAQAM and was marked as registered in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.