Iran IRGC Navy Reports Seven Vessels Hit in Persian Gulf and Near Strait of Hormuz, Warns US of Wider Response

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reported early Thursday that seven vessels were struck in two separate overnight incidents in and around the Persian Gulf, marking a sharp single-night escalation in a campaign of attacks on shipping that has intensified since late September. Four ships involved in what Tehran described as illegal oil transfers were hit and caught fire in the northern Persian Gulf, while three additional vessels collided with mines west of the Strait of Hormuz and also caught fire.

The IRGC Navy coupled the incident reports with an explicit warning to the US military of a wider response to what it characterized as continued provocations. The strikes fit a broader pattern: Iran has been using naval mines and direct attacks to assert control over shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, with more than a dozen strikes on vessels recorded since late September 2026. Tehran has insisted that only routes it authorizes are legal, in direct conflict with US-designated corridors close to the Omani coast.

The seven vessels hit in a single night represent a significant single-session toll compared to prior incidents, in which one to three ships were typically targeted at a time. A cargo ship had previously sunk after striking a mine in the strait earlier in the week, the first reported sinking of the conflict, underlining the growing lethality of the mine threat to commercial shipping in one of the world's most critical oil transit chokepoints.