Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard statements on Thursday described a string of fires on commercial vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz, saying at least five oil tankers and a tugboat were damaged after striking naval mines or suffering sudden blazes.

According to the Guard, a large tanker trying to use a southern passage it called illegal hit a mine overnight, caught fire and was forced to stop. A second supertanker exiting the eastern side of the strait was halted by a major fire, and a tug that approached to fight the flames also burned. The army later said three more tankers struck mines east of the waterway in the morning and around noon and likewise caught fire.

Separately, British maritime monitors reported that a tanker was struck by two projectiles about fifty nautical miles north of Qatar late on Wednesday. The monitors did not name the ship or its flag, and no group immediately claimed that attack. A Qatari LNG carrier was also hit by unidentified objects in the Gulf last week, its operator said, with no crew injuries reported.

Traffic through the strait has been tightly restricted since the wider war with Iran began in late February. In normal times the waterway moves roughly one fifth of global oil consumption, so every fresh incident feeds freight and energy market nerves. Iranian spokesmen framed the damaged tankers as vessels that had entered unsafe or unauthorised lanes, while offering no sign that passage would become freer while fighting continues.

The timing matters politically as well as commercially. Washington is still weighing its next moves after US midterm losses that many analysts link in part to the Iran conflict, and any renewed sense that Hormuz remains mined or contested will keep pressure on insurers, shipowners and importers that depend on Gulf crude and fuel.