TEHRAN – The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy said Sunday that a violating supertanker carrying crude oil was engulfed in a massive explosion after striking a sea mine in a designated high-risk route while attempting to exit the Strait of Hormuz through an unauthorized channel.
In a statement, the IRGC Navy’s public relations
 office said the supertanker had switched off its navigation and positioning systems before hitting the mine. The vessel is now burning in an enormous fire, with the blaze clearly visible to residents along the coast, the statement said.
“The massive fire is the fate of any violating oil tanker that seeks to ignore the security and rules of the Strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC Navy said.
Iran’s top security official said earlier Sunday that Tehran has been targeting five to six smuggling vessels nightly. Major General Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Press TV that the strait remains under Iranian control and that Washington has resorted to smuggling operations with Emirati military assistance to circumvent Iranian management of the waterway.