Musandam
\nOman has rescued 25 crew members from a burning crude oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz as ships continue to be targeted in the besieged waterway.
\nThe Omani Maritime Security Centre said in a statement on Friday that it had evacuated the people on board the RITI merchant ship. Oman said the vessel was flying the Panamanian flag, and the tracking website MarineTraffic identified it as a crude oil tanker.
\nThe incident came as Iran said four tankers attempting to use \u201cunauthorised routes\u201d to cross the Strait of Hormuz were halted.
\nIt is unclear whether one of the vessels was the tanker whose crew Omani maritime authorities evacuated.
\nIran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said all four vessels were carrying oil and that the ships had been halted following \u201cincidents\u201d or after hitting mines.
\n\u201cTwo offending oil tankers, one in the eastern part and the other in the western part of the Strait of Hormuz, which were attempting to pass through the unauthorised route, encountered incidents and were brought to a halt in the waters south of the strait,\u201d the IRGC said in a statement on Friday.
\nHours later, the IRGC said two more tankers \u2013 each carrying more than two million barrels of oil \u2013 \u201cexploded and caught fire\u201d as a result of hitting mines while attempting to pass through an \u201cunauthorised route\u201d.
\nMeanwhile, Iran\u2019s Navy said on Friday that it struck and destroyed an unmanned enemy craft to the east of the strait.
\nIran has repeatedly warned vessels against passing through the strait without Tehran\u2019s permission.
\nIt has claimed responsibility for attacks on ships and said last month that vessels attempting to transit Hormuz without authorisation would face \u201cdestruction\u201d.
\nTehran has asserted control over much of the waterway since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.
\nThe US military denies the naval mine claims. On Friday, United States Central Command chief Brad Cooper said the Strait of Hormuz\u2019s \u201cinternationally recognised primary transit routes\u201d had been successfully cleared of Iranian sea mines.
\nShipping in the Strait of Hormuz is operating at about 70 percent below pre-war levels, the UK\u2019s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Musandam Oman has rescued 25 crew members from a burning crude oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz as ships continue to be targeted in the besieged waterway. The Omani Maritime Security Centre said in a statement on Friday that it had evacuated the people on board the RITI merchant ship. Oman said the vessel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n