Iran says two tankers hit mines and caught fire in Hormuz
The Revolutionary Guards say two crude tankers struck mines and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, two days after a Qatari gas carrier was attacked. President Trump says the war will end “very soon, one way or the other”: “Either they’ll make a deal, or we’ll just end it.” Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, says talks with mediators on a two-day plan to reopen the strait continue.
The mines are being laid against the southern route along the Omani coast, which Washington promotes and Tehran calls prohibited. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre counts 81 attacks on ships in the strait since 6 July, 59 of them on that route, and Iran claims nearly ten ships have struck mines there. Araghchi says Iran wants the United States to have “enough sense to choose diplomacy”, but that no direct talks are taking place, and that whether any are direct or indirect will be decided “once Washington agrees to Iran’s conditions”. Those conditions include lifting the port blockade, releasing frozen assets and easing sanctions. The tanker claims are Iran’s own and have not been independently confirmed.