Yemen conflict brings Bab el-Mandeb shipping traffic to near standstill as Iran said Thursday it struck a Togo-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz after the vessel attempted what it called an “illegal passage.”
In a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said the ship had been “incited and deceived” by the US military and then hit as it sought to cross the waterway overnight.
“Last night the offending tanker Trend, flying the flag of Togo, intended to pass illegally through the Strait of Hormuz after being incited and deceived by the child-killing American army,” the statement said. “It was struck and stopped after a fire broke out.”
The IRGC Navy said its sailors still held the strategic channel and would block any force it described as an aggressor.
It repeated a warning to shipowners and crews. “Illegal passage through the Strait of Hormuz will achieve nothing other than the destruction of the offending vessel,” the navy said.
