Iran's IRGC Navy says a liquefied natural gas tanker struck a naval mine and exploded in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday while using an unauthorized route. No vessel details were immediately available.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas struck a naval mine and suffered an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday while using what it described as an “unauthorized and dangerous route,” state media reported. No details on the tanker were immediately available.
The IRGC Navy said the vessel was carrying liquefied natural gas and was attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz via a route not authorized by Iran. Iranian state media cited by Reuters said the vessel was using an “unauthorised and dangerous route.” The IRGC also said the vessel ignored repeated warnings before entering the route, according to Mehr News.
The IRGC’s account is the sole source for the incident. No independent confirmation had emerged from CENTCOM, UKMTO, or any non-Iranian source at the time of reporting. Reuters, TASS, Mehr News, and Al Arabiya all described the cargo as liquefied natural gas. Newsquawk’s market terminal reported the IRGC described the vessel as an “LPG carrier,” a distinction that matters for both the cargo’s combustion characteristics and the affected supply chain. Without independent confirmation, “gas carrier” is the safest description.
Iranian media reported on Thursday that four oil tankers were hit by explosions in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the vessels had ignored warnings and entered what Iran considers restricted areas of the strategic waterway. At least 10 ships were hit in the first 10 days of November, after 37 attacks in October, which was the highest monthly tally since the conflict began in late February, according to data from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The US military says it has cleared the main shipping routes of mines. The US has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and provides military support to tankers using the vital trade route. The IRGC also said overnight that its forces had targeted a US early warning radar system in Bahrain, a US ally in the Gulf that is home to American military installations. The attack was not confirmed by either the US or Bahrain.
Kpler data showed that exports of liquefied natural gas via the Strait of Hormuz last month reached the highest total since February, at 31 tankers, compared with 23 in September. Despite the increase in loadings, the total from Qatar is far from pre-war levels. According to Kpler, LNG loadings at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal exceeded 2.7 million tons in October, while the country exported nearly 6.2 million tons in February.
The UK Parliament’s Commons Library estimated that around 20 percent of global LNG passes through the Strait of Hormuz each year and noted that almost no LNG carriers have transited since the conflict began. Qatar’s LNG export cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz fell by approximately 96 percent after the conflict began, forcing QatarEnergy to source substitute US cargoes. Qatar extended its force majeure on LNG deliveries through the end of 2026, per Bloomberg.
Asian spot LNG prices, measured by the JKM benchmark, hit their highest level since December 2022, rising above $30 per million British thermal units in late October on Hormuz security concerns, according to IndexBox and lngpriceindex.com. Dutch TTF gas futures were trading at around EUR 93–97 per megawatt hour in mid-November, per Newsquawk. Brent crude stood at approximately $92–96 per barrel on 12–13 November, posting a second consecutive weekly loss, according to FXStreet citing Commerzbank analysis and OPEC output data.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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