Two oil tankers exploded and lost propulsion after attempting to enter and leave the Strait of Hormuz through an unsafe southern route, according to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The claim was contained in Statement No 30 of Operation Nasr 2, published at 04:44 local time on 20 July.
The IRGC attributed the choice of route to pressure and encouragement from the US military but did not identify the cause of the explosions or state that its forces had attacked the vessels.
The statement provided no assessment of damage beyond the tankers’ loss of propulsion.
A separate maritime security warning concerned an unidentified vessel on fire eight nautical miles northwest of Kumzar, Oman, at 22:45 UTC on Sunday. The cause remained unverified, and the incident was not formally linked to the two tankers in Statement No 30.
The latest claim followed Statement No 26, published early on Saturday, involving two tankers that had exploded and suffered extensive fires after entering the same southern route.
Four vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, down from eight on Saturday.
Brent crude rose 2.4% to $90.19 per barrel by 02:41 GMT on Monday, while US West Texas Intermediate gained 2.1% to $84.20.
The IRGC is a component of Iran’s armed forces with its own naval branch.
UK Maritime Trade Operations distributes navigational warnings and incident notices to commercial shipping.