In a statement released this morning, the IRGC Public Relations Office said the IRGC Navy forces, with the grace of God and with the support of this national steadfastness and prayers of the Iranian nation, continue to powerfully control the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Last night, in two separate incidents, a large tanker that was trying to pass through the illegal passage south of the Strait, was hit by a mine and caught fire and stopped, while another supertanker, leaving this route in the east of the Strait of Hormuz, stopped in a massive fire, and a tugboat that had approached this supertanker to put out the fire also caught fire.”

The statement added that the IRGC Navy Electronic Warfare Unit fighters were able to safely land two Lucas-type drones and take control of them.

“The US regime, which imposes heavy insurance costs on American taxpayers and its allies in the region by instigating vessels to violate and pass through mined waterways, would not have suffered these heavy losses and a humiliating electoral defeat (in the midterm elections) if it had been more prudent to release Iran’s frozen funds instead of paying these costs,” it said, adding that attempting to break the law in the Strait of Hormuz will not result in anything other than more financial losses and greater political defeats for the US.