The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is spreading blatant falsehoods about a tanker attack in the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. Central Command isn’t letting them get away with it.
CENTCOM directly contradicted Iranian claims this week, confirming that the Panama-flagged oil tanker El Gaia was struck by an Iranian drone over the weekend, not a naval mine as Tehran asserts. The attack came while the vessel sat helplessly in waters off the coast of Oman, already crippled from an Iranian missile strike last month.
“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims a Panama-flagged oil tanker recently struck a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz. This is FALSE,” CENTCOM stated bluntly. The command explained that the El Gaia “was struck by an Iranian missile last month and rendered inoperable” before Iran “struck the tanker again with a drone.”
The IRGC’s Navy offered a dramatically different account on Monday, claiming through the semi-official Mehr News Agency that El Gaia struck a mine and exploded while attempting to transit a restricted zone south of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian forces asserted the tanker was engulfed in flames after efforts to contain the fire failed.
More alarming still, the IRGC declared that the Strait of Hormuz was blocked and under its control. CENTCOM and U.S. officials adamantly denied this assertion.
“The IRGC’s false claim is yet another example of their lies and intimidation attempts while they try to impede commercial vessels in the strait,” CENTCOM added.
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the most strategically vital chokepoints on Earth. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through its narrow waters daily. Any disruption there sends shockwaves through global energy markets and threatens the economic security of nations worldwide.
Iran’s brazen attacks on commercial vessels and subsequent disinformation campaigns represent a direct challenge to freedom of navigation and international maritime law. The regime’s claim of controlling the strait amounts to an act of hostility against every nation that depends on safe passage through those waters.
CENTCOM’s willingness to call out Iran’s lies publicly signals that the United States won’t allow the regime’s propaganda to go unchallenged. Whether that resolve translates into meaningful consequences for Tehran’s continued attacks on international shipping remains to be seen.
