CENTCOM rejects Iran's claims of tanker mine blasts in Strait of Hormuz amid tensions

The US Central Command CENTCOM has dismissed Tehrans claims that two oil tankers sustained damage from mine explosions while attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz In a post on X CENTCOM asserted Like most IRGC claims this is falseThe denial followed assertions by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC on Saturday local time that two oil tankers had exploded after striking mines within the critical maritime corridor The incident unfolds amidst an ongoing exchange of drone and missile strikes between the two nationsAccording 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 CLAIM Iranrsquos Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC claims that two oil tankers have exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting mines in the international waterway FACT Like most IRGC claims this is false pictwittercomhgdwnc7Kosmdash US Central Command CENTCOM July 18 2026Furthermore the IRGC claimed it had stopped four vessels attempting to traverse the narrow but vital waterway which historically accounts for the transit of approximately onefifth of global oil and gas shipmentsMeanwhile American forces executed strikes against Iranian targets for the seventh straight night In a post shared on X US Central Command stated that the operations were engineered to continue degrading Iranian military capabilitiesThe intensifications follow previous warnings from US President Donald Trump who threatened to target Iranian infrastructure However as of Friday Washington had not officially confirmed whether American forces had initiated strikes against such assetsThe current wave of hostilities represents the most severe escalation between the two adversaries since the conflict resumed Tehran has accused Washington of targeting civilian infrastructure specifically naming an airport a railway station and two bridges and asserted that it had launched counterstrikes against US assets throughout the regionFollowing the American strikes on what Iran described as civilian infrastructure the Islamic Republic launched a sequence of military operations against US naval and military installations across the Gulf zoneThe countrys armed forces alongside the IRGC independently declared strikes under Tehrans active military campaigns hitting targets in Qatar Kuwait Jordan Oman and SyriaReports carried by the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB indicated that both the Iranian Army and the IRGC framed these operations as a direct retaliation for recent US assaults on Iranian soil and military personnelTehran further claimed to have widened the scope of its retaliatory actions across several regional nations declaring strikes against US military bases and assets in Qatar Kuwait Jordan Oman and SyriaIn a separate development CENTCOM confirmed on Friday local time that its forces had successfully destroyed a surveillance tower located at Irans Shahid Kalantari Port in ChabaharUS officials stated that the facility was a component of a broader maritime surveillance network utilised by the IRGC to monitor commercial shipping lanes in the Gulf of Oman with a specific focus on the Strait of HormuzDetailing the operation on X CENTCOM announced On July 16 US forces successfully destroyed the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower part of a maritime surveillance network along Irans Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of HormuzThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever