Iran showed off a new underground missile base on state television on Tuesday and said three tankers had struck naval mines and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. The broadcast showed General Ali Abdollahi, chief of the general staff of the armed forces, touring a vast underground complex filled with ballistic and cruise missiles on launchers, joined by Brigadier General Majid Mousavi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force. The video was heavily edited and partly blurred, and it did not disclose where the base is or when the visit took place. Guards spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said Iran has moved parts of its missile and drone production underground so factories can keep working even under bombardment.
The Revolutionary Guards Navy said three vessels struck naval mines and caught fire on Tuesday on a route Tehran calls unauthorized, one of them a supertanker and another crossing under U.S. military protection. Those claims could not be independently verified, and Iran named none of the ships. Two incidents are confirmed by sources outside Iran. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a projectile struck a tanker 19 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman, at 1338 GMT on Tuesday, with all crew safe and no environmental damage. ADNOC Logistics and Services said one of its vessels was damaged in an attack in UAE territorial waters on Tuesday afternoon, naming no vessel and blaming no one. Reuters reported that 37 ships were attacked in and around the strait in October, the highest monthly total since the war began, and oil prices rose on Wednesday.
U.S. Central Command rejects Iran’s account. Captain Tim Hawkins said traffic through the strait continues to flow and that U.S. forces cleared mines from the main shipping lanes several weeks ago. He said American forces have helped move more than 900 million barrels of crude through the strait since early May and redirected more than 100 ships that tried to break the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, and U.S. officials have called Iranian mine strike reports false. In Paris, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran is bleeding economically and no major new action is needed. Mohsen Rezaei answered that the war has wrecked the United States, and Tehran says the strait stays shut until its seven conditions are met. About a fifth of the world’s oil passes through Hormuz, which is why every new attack pushes fuel and shipping costs up.
Full story: https://zarknews.com/iran-missile-city-hormuz-tanker-attacks/
Sources: UKMTO; ADNOC; CENTCOM; Reuters; Zark News. File photo / Photo: U.S. Navy (public domain). Video: Zark News.
