Oil Tanker Catches Fire After Hitting Naval Mine In Strait Of Hormuz, Iran Says

An oil tanker caught fire by a naval mine in the eastern Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning, November 14, 2026, according to a claim by Iran’s navy.

The navy said the tanker was disabled after it entered a restricted area east of the strait. It did not name the vessel or give any details of its flag, cargo or crew.

The Iran navy warned that any ship entering the prohibited zone, despite earlier warnings, would face the same fate. It added that fire and explosions were the ‘fate of tankers involved in illegal activities’ which had turned off their tracking systems and were operating in restricted areas.

The claim about the oil tanker has not been independently verified.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy announced on November 13 that mines had blown up a supertanker and a second tanker, leaving both vessels on fire.

Both ships were travelling on a route the IRGC had not approved, with their radar and navigation systems turned off, the force claimed. Shipowners whose vessels pass through without contacting its traffic control centre would suffer the same outcome, it warned.

The IRGC has made several similar claims in recent weeks. One of them, in mid-October, involved two crude tankers holding roughly 2 million barrels between them, which it said were burning after mine strikes.

The IRGC made another such announcement on November 1 about two more tankers, describing a supertanker as ‘engulfed in flames’. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) logged a separate report that day of a tanker struck by an unidentified projectile in the strait.

UKMTO also reported that a tanker caught fire about 8 nautical miles northwest of Khasab, Oman, on the evening of November 7, and its crew was evacuated. The agency did not give the cause of the fire.

Iran has placed curbs on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and has targeted vessels that it accuses of breaching them. The Islamic Republic links its growing attacks to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and harsher sanctions.

References: Reuters (via The Jerusalem Post), Mehr News Agency, Middle East Eye, UKMTO