Four oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran said on Wednesday (November 4, 2026), after it warned no one would benefit from a return to war.
It came a day after President Donald Trump said the United States had launched strikes on the Islamic Republic, following reports of a raid on Qeshm, the largest island in the strait.
“Four non-compliant oil tankers attempting to pass through the prohibited passage south of the Strait of Hormuz were destroyed after striking naval mines and are still burning,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement quoted by state TV. The Guards also said they had shot down a drone over the strait. Indirect contact between the United States and Iran via mediators has continued with little sign of any diplomatic breakthrough, and Iran has said it is ready to reopen the strait but only if Washington agrees to a long-standing list of demands.
Pezeshkian said on Tuesday (November 3, 2026).
Tehran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Islamic Republic was “ready for battle with its finger on the trigger”, although President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted his government was trying to resolve the crisis “through dialogue”. “No one will benefit from this war” if fighting resumes, Mr.
