Iran says three tankers ablaze in Hormuz as Oman rescues 25 crew

Muscat — Oman's navy said it rescued 25 crew members from a burning crude oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, as Iran's Revolutionary Guards reported that three oil tankers had been halted and caught fire in the narrow waterway. The incidents came as Qatari mediators returned to Tehran for another round of talks aimed at ending the war between Iran and the United States, Euronews reported.

Oman's Maritime Security Centre said its navy evacuated the 25 crew of the merchant ship RITI, flying the Panamanian flag, "after it was targeted, which led to a fire breaking out on board". The crew received medical care, the statement said, without giving details. The tracking website MarineTraffic described the RITI as a crude oil tanker. Britain's UKMTO agency said separately that a ship 40 nautical miles south of Iran's Lavan Island was struck by an unknown projectile, causing a fire; its crew were reported safe.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gave its own account. Two "offending oil tankers", one in the east and one in the west of the strait, "encountered incidents and were brought to a halt in the waters south of the strait", it said, adding that a supertanker carrying two million barrels of oil later exploded "after striking a naval mine while navigating an unauthorised route". It said this was the third tanker to have "exploded and caught fire" on Friday after disregarding radio warnings. Tehran has demanded that vessels use a designated route and coordinate passage with its armed forces, calling the southern corridor nearer Oman's shores unauthorised.

The US military disputes the mine claims. Central Command chief Brad Cooper said in a video that American forces had "successfully cleared the strait's internationally recognised primary transit routes of Iranian sea mines" and remained present to keep them "free and clear". He said Washington had helped Gulf countries export more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude via the strait since summer. The US has answered Iran's restrictions on the strait with a counterblockade of Iranian ports, The Hindu reported.

It remains unclear whether the RITI was among the vessels Iran says it halted, and the competing accounts cannot be independently verified. What is not in dispute is the cost to shipping: traffic through the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of global oil, is running at about 70 percent below pre-war levels, according to UKMTO. Iran's navy also said on Friday it had destroyed an unmanned enemy craft east of the strait.

Tehran has asserted control over much of the waterway since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February, and has warned that ships transiting without authorisation face "destruction". For the crews still moving oil through the Gulf, and for markets watching every barrel, the wait now is on the Qatari-brokered talks in Tehran — and whether diplomacy can open the strait before another ship burns.