Iran Claims Three Tankers Hit by Mines in Strait of Hormuz

Iranian state media reported on Thursday that three oil tankers struck underwater mines and caught fire while attempting to leave the Strait of Hormuz. The report, which cited the Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the vessels used an unauthorized route and turned off their radar and navigation systems. The damaged ships were abandoned off the southern coast of the waterway. The report did not name the tankers or list casualties, and the Associated Press was unable to confirm the incident independently.

The incident occurred as tensions rose over the possibility that U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran might resume. In a separate development, the U.S. military denied Iran’s claim that its forces captured an American surveillance drone near the strait. Iranian state television said the Revolutionary Guard intercepted an MQM-170 Outlaw drone during an electronic warfare operation and landed it in Iran. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, called the report false. He said, “In the past weeks and months, the IRGC has repeatedly lied out of desperation, and today is no different.”

In Yemen, at least 13 people, mostly women and children, died in a Saudi airstrike in western Taiz province on Thursday. The Houthi-run Health Ministry provided the death count, though the coalition had not issued an immediate comment. Fighting has intensified around Taiz, the country's third-largest city, which Houthi rebels have encircled since early October. Nabil Shamsan, the governor of Taiz, stated that the city is currently in famine. He noted that cooking gas supplies are blocked and hospitals are nearly out of oxygen. Human Rights Watch warned that the siege could constitute a war crime involving starvation, while the World Food Program said it could not reach more than 600,000 people in the area who depend on aid.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi dismissed reports of a siege as “Saudi-fabricated claims.” A separate strike on a paint factory on the city's outskirts caused a large fire that may release toxic gases and contaminate nearby soil and groundwater, according to Yemen’s National Human Rights Authority. In Saudi Arabia, air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles launched toward the capital, Riyadh, on Thursday. The state-owned Saudi Press Agency reported the interceptions shortly after multiple explosions were heard over the city. The Houthis had not claimed responsibility for the missiles at the time of the report.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party amplified allegations that Arab-led parties “stolen” the election as final results were awaited. The elections committee requested the Shin Bet intelligence service to investigate alleged interference by unspecified “foreign entities.” Netanyahu argued that no party should cooperate with Arab-led groups. Final results are expected to show that Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority, leaving it unclear who will form a government. In Gaza, an Israeli strike on a civilian vehicle in the central territory killed two people and wounded one, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. More than 1,550 Palestinians have died in Israeli strikes since a fragile ceasefire began in October 2025.