Three tankers erupt in flames in the Strait of Hormuz after attempting unauthorized passage, as Washington opens a new economic front against Iran; IRGC dismisses Trump's bid to disrupt Iran’s land trade as "merely wordplay".

TEHRAN -- Third tanker exploded and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday after attempting to transit an unauthorized route, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy said, as a senior IRGC spokesman declared that any power arrayed against Iran is "condemned to failure" and dismissed a new U.S. effort to choke off Iran's land trade as "merely wordplay."

The IRGC Navy said in a statement that three violating tankers had exploded and caught fire in the strategic waterway since the early hours of Sunday, with smoke from the burning vessels blanketing the sky over the strait.

The tankers were burning "due to turning off their navigation and identification systems and the mischief of the American smuggling and aggressor army," the statement said, warning that Iranian regulations for the Strait of Hormuz have been announced repeatedly to all ships and that defiance, in concert with the U.S. military, "will have no fate other than this."

The IRGC Navy had earlier announced that two tankers—one east of the strait and one inside it—struck mines while attempting to pass through unauthorized routes after disabling their navigation systems.

"Pay no heed to the delusions of the CENTCOM commander," the statement added.

The explosions came as IRGC spokesman General Hussein Mohebbi, speaking at a documentary unveiling in Tehran on Sunday, said the war with the West is "not a misunderstanding that can be resolved, but an existential war" aimed at destroying Iran's identity and civilization.

"The enemy is desperate," Mohebbi said, adding that if Iran resists it can become a superpower and "the orderer of all political and security relations in the region."

Elaborating on the nature of the confrontation, Mohebbi said Washington and its allies are pursuing objectives that go beyond weakening Iran's military capabilities or imposing economic costs, seeking instead to fundamentally transform the country's national identity and separate it from its historical and civilizational foundations.

"The enemy wants to change our entire identity," he said, warning that Iran was facing a decisive historical juncture.

"The enemy has explicitly stated that it wants to destroy our civilization and separate us from our civilization. It wants to portray Iran as a country without civilization, and therefore we must remain vigilant," Mohebbi added.

Describing the current situation as an unprecedented historical challenge, the IRGC spokesman said the adversary intends to destroy Iran and disintegrate its territory but is confronted by the country's considerable geographical size.

"We are now at a historical turning point, perhaps one that Iran has never experienced throughout its history," he said.

"The enemy intends to destroy us and disintegrate our country, but Iran's territorial size creates difficulties for it, and this is something it fears," Mohebbi added.

He also said that Washington is increasingly caught between two difficult choices, neither of which offers the outcome it seeks.

"If it intends to wage war, it does not have the ability to continue it and achieve its desired outcome; and if it retreats, its reputation in the world will be damaged," he said.

Mohebbi also responded to the U.S. military's newly announced Task Force Iron Gate, established on Saturday to disrupt Iran's ground transit routes and Caspian Sea shipments.

"The Iron Gate plan is merely a wordplay," Mohebbi said. "The Americans cannot achieve their objectives of imposing severe economic pressure to cause economic collapse in Iran through this approach."

He added that Tehran has "already made the necessary arrangements to coordinate with neighboring countries" and that "the U.S. will never succeed in imposing an economic blockade."

The new American initiative highlights Washington's attempt to extend its terrorist campaign beyond maritime restrictions and target the commercial and transportation networks that connect Iran to neighboring countries and regional markets.

However, Iran's geographical position, extensive land borders and established commercial relationships across the region present significant obstacles to any attempt to impose a comprehensive economic blockade. Disrupting individual shipments or targeting particular transportation corridors is not equivalent to eliminating a country's entire capacity for international trade.

Iran's connections with neighboring countries, particularly across Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as its access to the Caspian Sea, provide alternative commercial and transportation channels.

These realities make the prospect of completely isolating the Iranian economy an exceptionally difficult undertaking, regardless of the additional resources Washington devotes to enforcement.

The IRGC spokesman also called for the establishment of absolute deterrence to prevent any future attack on Iran's national resources, territorial integrity and civilization.

"We must achieve absolute deterrence so that nobody dares to attack our resources, territorial integrity and civilization. And this is entirely achievable," he said.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces, said in a statement that the "repeated failures" of the Trump administration reflect "defeat before the will of a powerful Iran."

"Any power that arrays itself against the firm rock and iron will of Islamic Iran will have no fate but fall and dissolution in the eyes of world public opinion," Shekarchi said.