Two Oil Supertankers Explode in Strait of Hormuz, IRGC Says

Two oil supertankers were disabled by massive explosions after they ignored warnings against using an "unauthorised route" in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said on Thursday.

The two tankers "exploded after hitting naval mines", Iranian state media said later, showing what it said was video footage of the incidents.

In the earlier months of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which began in February, the IRGC Navy had announced it had struck tankers directly. More recently, it has reported that vessels caught fire after hitting naval mines while using what it describes as an "unauthorised route" in the southern part of the strategic waterway.

In several cases, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) has said tankers in the strait have been struck by unknown projectiles.

(Reuters - Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Elwely Elwelly; Writing by Emily Giles; Editing by Louise Heavens, Tomasz Janowski and Michael Georgy)