FLORIDA, U.S., July 18 (ANI): U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has dismissed Tehran’s claims that two oil tankers sustained damage from mine explosions while attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on X, CENTCOM stated, “Like most IRGC claims, this is false.”
The denial followed assertions by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday (local time) that two oil tankers had exploded after striking mines in the critical maritime corridor.
The incident comes amid an ongoing exchange of drone and missile strikes between the two countries.
According to an IRGC statement published by the state news agency IRNA, “An hour ago, two oil tankers, which were trying to pass through the minefield south of the Strait of Hormuz by deceptive American intelligence agencies, exploded and caught fire.”
The IRGC also claimed it had stopped four vessels attempting to transit the narrow but strategically vital waterway, which has historically handled approximately one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces carried out strikes against Iranian targets for the seventh consecutive night.
In a post on X, U.S. Central Command said the operations were intended to “continue degrading Iranian military capabilities.”
The escalation follows earlier warnings from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to target Iranian infrastructure. However, as of Friday, Washington had not officially confirmed whether U.S. forces had launched strikes against such assets.
The current wave of hostilities marks the most serious escalation between the two countries since the conflict resumed.
Tehran has accused Washington of targeting civilian infrastructure, including an airport, a railway station, and two bridges, and said it had launched retaliatory strikes against U.S. assets across the region.
Following the U.S. strikes on what Iran described as civilian infrastructure, the Islamic Republic launched a series of military operations against U.S. naval and military installations across the Gulf region.
Iran’s armed forces and the IRGC separately announced strikes as part of Tehran’s ongoing military campaign, targeting locations in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, and Syria.
According to reports carried by the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, both the Iranian Army and the IRGC said the operations were carried out in direct retaliation for recent U.S. attacks on Iranian territory and military personnel.
Tehran further claimed to have expanded its retaliatory operations across the region, announcing strikes against U.S. military bases and assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, and Syria.
In a separate development, CENTCOM confirmed Friday (local time) that its forces had “successfully destroyed” a surveillance tower at Iran’s Shahid Kalantari Port in Chabahar.
U.S. officials said the facility was part of a broader maritime surveillance network used by the IRGC to monitor commercial shipping lanes in the Gulf of Oman, particularly vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Detailing the operation on X, CENTCOM said, “On July 16, U.S. forces successfully destroyed the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower, part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.” (ANI)
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