Iran says its mines just hit another tanker — and claims Washington agreed to some of its terms

The new claim

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy said Tuesday that a supertanker struck a naval mine and exploded while attempting to exit the Strait of Hormuz through the "unauthorized southern route," according to reporting on Tuesday by Rudaw. Details were scarce, and the claim had not been independently verified.

The assertion follows the IRGC's claim on October 17 that two oil tankers caught fire after striking mines in the strait. Iran's official IRNA news agency reported both vessels were carrying about two million barrels of crude, that one was the tanker El Gaia, and that the ships had switched off their positioning systems and tried to use a route Tehran had not authorized. Reuters relayed IRNA's reporting; none of it could be independently confirmed.

The waterway no one can certify as safe

The International Maritime Organization has warned the strait remains dangerous. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told Fox News Digital that the approved traffic separation scheme "still has mines" and that, while the conflict continues, third parties cannot verify the area is clear — meaning the organization cannot guarantee a transiting vessel will not be hit.

Iran maintains its own unauthorized temporary transit corridor inside its territorial waters, which the IMO has not approved. Dominguez warned the strait was "not open for business" in the way it was before the conflict started.

The diplomacy underneath

The mine claims landed alongside the first signals of movement toward talks. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the United States had accepted some of Tehran's seven conditions, though other issues remained unresolved, according to IRNA via Reuters.

Separately, Iran said it had received no response from Saudi Arabia or Yemen's Houthis on its mediation initiative, while Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir arrived in Tehran for meetings — and Iran's president told the Pakistani mediator that the Americans must first remove all pressure, threats and sanctions before any negotiations.

The Canadian angle

Brent crude has been hovering near $110–111 a barrel through the mine crisis — a double hit for Canadians: pain at the pumps as winter arrives, and an inflation risk hanging over the Bank of Canada's October 28 rate decision. President Trump's $8-billion harvest fuel relief program for American farmers, announced Monday, shows how the diesel shock is now forcing fiscal responses across North America.