Iran says 3 tankers caught fire in Hormuz

TEHRAN: Three oil tankers caught fire on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran regularly targets ships that transit without its authorization, the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.

Since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, Tehran has severely restricted traffic through the strategic waterway, insisting vessels use routes authorized by the Islamic republic.

The United States has in response imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and helped tankers travel the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption.

“Since the early hours of this morning, three non-compliant tankers have exploded and caught fire while they were sailing in the illegal channel in the Strait of Hormuz,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, said in a statement.