ISTANBUL
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Sunday that two ships were involved in “an accident” after attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz through an “unsafe route,” while two others were deterred from continuing their journey.
The vessels “intended to disrupt and exit the Strait of Hormuz via an unsafe route with the US support,” the IRGC Navy said in a statement carried by the semi-official Fars News Agency.
The statement did not specify the nature of the accident that the vessels encountered.
The IRGC stressed that the Strait of Hormuz is in its “complete control,” saying that “the only safe passage” is the designated shipping lane announced by Iranian authorities.
The developments come amid heightened tensions in the region, where the US has launched attacks on Iran, and Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting facilities and bases it says are used by the US military in several regional countries.
The exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran comes despite a Pakistan-brokered memorandum of understanding signed in June to end their war and reach a lasting peace agreement.
