IRGC says it set fire to four oil ships in northern Persian Gulf

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said its forces set fire to four oil-carrying ships in the northern Persian Gulf, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported. According to the IRGC statement, the vessels were targeted after they ignored earlier warnings and kept moving oil cargoes through illegal passages. The Navy said all four ships were hit at the same time and caught fire.

The same statement said three further ships collided with mines in the western Strait of Hormuz and were stopped. It ended with a warning that if the trend continues, the scope of the confrontation will be extended to "the aggressive bases in the region." The report carried no independent confirmation of the IRGC's account.

The claim lands amid rising tensions. President Donald Trump told a rally in South Carolina that Washington had defeated Iran "militarily, financially and otherwise," repeating that Tehran will "never have a nuclear weapon." He said the conflict will end "very soon," but added that the US "could leave now, but we wanna make sure it lasts for a long time," and referred to the American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as the "Trump Strait."

According to the New York Times, the United States and Israel have drawn up plans for fresh strikes on Iran after the American midterm elections, aimed at energy infrastructure, nuclear sites and missile assets. The paper reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the possible operations, while officials said any new hostilities might not achieve more than the first phase of the conflict between February and April.

Other reporting points the same way. Haaretz, citing unnamed White House sources, said Washington shifted its position in recent hours and now favors a preemptive attack on Iran, and noted unconfirmed reports that the US may already have carried out an air strike on Sirik in southern Iran. Separately, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported that the Israeli Air Force sent dozens of fighter jets close to the Iranian border earlier this week along a route consistent with a potential strike, covering more than 1,000 kilometers through Syrian and Iraqi airspace before turning back.