Published: 12 November 2026 | USA 247 Trend Post
Two supertankers carrying more than four million barrels of oil were engulfed in explosions in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Thursday, 12 November — hours after Iran's top security official warned that every US military base involved in a new war against Iran, "from West Asia to Europe", would be a legitimate target. The twin developments pushed the Middle East war, which began in late February, into its most dangerous phase yet, and sent oil prices higher.
The IRGC said the two vessels had ignored repeated warnings against using an unauthorised southern shipping route through the strait and were disabled by massive explosions. The claim could not be immediately verified, according to The National, and the details of what happened in the strait overnight remain contested. What is not in doubt is that the waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil normally passes is now the centre of a confrontation that threatens to spread far beyond the Gulf.
The short version: Iran says it is enforcing its control over the Strait of Hormuz, and it is threatening to hit American bases as far away as Europe if the United States resumes air strikes. Washington, for its part, has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and is escorting tankers through the strait. Diplomacy continues through mediators, but the gap between the two sides — over Iran's nuclear programme and the future of the strait — remains wide. Here is what happened, what each side is saying, and what it means for oil prices and for Americans.
Table of Contents
- 1. What Happened in the Strait Overnight
- 2. Iran's Warning: "No Safe Distance, No Safe Haven"
- 3. A War That Began on 28 February
- 4. The Blockade and the Oil at Stake
- 5. The Diplomatic Track: Qatar and Pakistan
- 6. What It Means for Oil Prices and Americans
- 7. What to Watch Next
- Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Happened in the Strait Overnight
According to the IRGC Navy, two supertankers carrying a combined cargo of more than four million barrels of oil suffered massive explosions while transiting the Strait of Hormuz overnight, and stopped sailing. The vessels had, the IRGC said, ignored repeated warnings from the strait's traffic control centre about the "unauthorised and unsafe" nature of the southern route. In a statement carried on the IRGC-affiliated Sepah News Telegram channel on Thursday morning, the IRGC Navy said both tankers were now burning.
The incident followed a separate report on Wednesday, when Iran's army said an oil tanker had struck a mine and caught fire in the east of the Strait of Hormuz. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) also reported an incident involving a tanker in the strait on Tuesday, 10 November, with crew injured — though it was not immediately clear whether the various reports concerned the same vessels.
Iran's account of the overnight explosions has not been independently verified, and the identities of the two supertankers had not been confirmed by Thursday morning. But the pattern is consistent with what has been happening in the strait for weeks. According to Dawn, at least 10 ships were hit in the first 10 days of November, after 37 attacks in October — the highest monthly tally since the conflict began. The International Maritime Organisation has confirmed 133 incidents in the region, with at least 25 seafarers killed.
Iran has also claimed responsibility for hitting three tankers on the same day for using what it called "unauthorised routes", and Reuters reported — citing three sources — that Iran had attacked the navigation and communications systems on Didamar Island, a small Omani island that helps guide ships through the strait. Oman has disputed the extent of the damage.
2. Iran's Warning: "No Safe Distance, No Safe Haven"
The explosions came a day after Iran's most senior security official issued a sweeping threat against American military installations. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a former commander-in-chief of the IRGC, wrote on X on Wednesday: "If the US launches another war against Iran, every military base involved in the aggression — from West Asia to Europe — will be a legitimate target for Iran's lethal strikes."
He added, in capital letters: "NO SAFE DISTANCE. NO SAFE HAVEN. NO IMMUNITY."
Rezaei went further in an interview with Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV. "If American aircraft take off from an American military base, even one located in a European country or some other distant region, to bomb Iran, we will strike those bases as well," he said, adding that Iran's response would target America's "more distant military installations" and potentially "certain islands that they assume are beyond the reach of our missiles".
The warning was conditional — it applies, in Rezaei's framing, if the United States launches another war — but its scope was deliberately broad. According to reports, the threat has already had a visible effect: the Associated Press reported that the US Air Force moved aircraft from RAF Mildenhall, a base in eastern England, "because of a threat", while the Wall Street Journal linked the move to Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was also reported to have moved to a military base after Iranian threats, according to the Citizen's Daily Brief.
The warning also fits a pattern of escalation. The Houthis, Iran's allies in Yemen, have stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia, with debris from two intercepted ballistic missiles falling on a village in the Makkah region and two more missiles downed near Riyadh, according to Gulf News. The United States has urged its citizens across the Middle East to exercise heightened vigilance amid the increased threat.
3. A War That Began on 28 February
The current conflict began on 28 February, when President Donald Trump announced major combat operations against Iran, in the latest round of US-Israeli action against the country. In his Veterans Day address this week, President Trump said the Iran war will end "when we want to end it", signalling direct American control over the conflict's timeline.
Since February, the war has been fought on several fronts: air strikes, a naval campaign in the Gulf, and a diplomatic track that has repeatedly stalled. Iran has responded by restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that vessels use routes it has approved, and confining safe passage to designated northern corridors. Southern routes near Omani waters have been declared unauthorised and mined, according to IRGC statements.
The human and economic costs have mounted. Beyond the seafarers killed in attacks on shipping, the war has damaged Iran's infrastructure, raised fears of winter gas shortages across the country, and caused oil spills that are washing ashore along the Gulf coast, according to Dawn. In Gaza, the fragile 2025 ceasefire has also been strained: an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis killed at least six people, including a surgeon, early on Thursday, according to Gaza's Civil Defence agency.
4. The Blockade and the Oil at Stake
The United States has responded to Iran's restrictions on the strait by imposing a naval blockade on Iranian ports and helping tankers travel through the waterway, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil. US Central Command says American forces are working around the clock to keep the strategic waterway open to commercial shipping, and has extended its pressure on Iran's military supply routes beyond the strait to overland routes and the Caspian Sea.
The IRGC, for its part, has warned vessels against trusting American protection. "Any vessel in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz that switches off its navigation systems and cooperates with the US smuggling army in transiting the unauthorized southern route through the Strait of Hormuz will meet a similar fate," the IRGC said in its statement on Thursday, describing the US military as a "smuggling" force.
The standoff creates a dilemma for the shipping industry. Vessels that follow Iran's approved northern corridors must accept Iranian control over their passage. Vessels that take the southern route — which the United States has been helping them use — risk being hit. The result is a waterway that is open in theory and dangerous in practice, with insurance costs, delays and the risk of attack now built into every transit.
For the global economy, the stakes are high. The strait is the world's most important oil chokepoint, and any sustained disruption would push energy prices up worldwide. The overnight explosions are a reminder that the risk is not theoretical: two supertankers, carrying more oil than many countries consume in a day, are now burning in the strait.
5. The Diplomatic Track: Qatar and Pakistan
Despite the escalation, diplomacy has not stopped. Talks led by Qatar and Pakistan are under way to end the war, and Iran has sent a nuclear proposal to the United States through Qatar, to be discussed after Tehran's seven demands are met, according to reports. A Qatari confidence-building proposal, discussed over two days, reportedly calls for reopening the strait on the second day of confidence-building measures — though Rezaei has tied the reopening of the strait to ending the war on all fronts, specifically naming Lebanon.
The nuclear issue remains the hardest obstacle. Rezaei said on Wednesday that the nuclear issue was "not currently" part of the ongoing talks, and that Tehran would not surrender its enriched nuclear material or allow any quantity of enriched uranium to leave its territory. Iran also slammed a $20 million US reward for information on its nuclear programme as "repugnant and regrettable", with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urging the United Nations' atomic energy agency and the Security Council to condemn the offer, according to Dawn.
The gap between the two sides is the reason the talks have repeatedly stalled. The United States wants constraints on Iran's nuclear programme and an end to the attacks on shipping; Iran wants an end to the war, the lifting of the blockade and recognition of its control over the strait. Until one side moves, the diplomacy is likely to continue in parallel with the fighting — as it has for months.
6. What It Means for Oil Prices and Americans
Oil markets reacted immediately to the overnight news. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose about 1% to $93.74 a barrel on Thursday, while the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, was trading at a bit over $88 a barrel, according to Investopedia. Both are high by recent standards, and further escalation in the strait would push them higher still.
For American consumers, the consequences would arrive at the petrol pump. Higher crude prices feed through to gasoline prices within weeks, and a sustained disruption in the strait could add significantly to the cost of fuel. The timing matters: the United States is also watching the Federal Reserve, with investors pricing in a roughly 91% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the Fed's December meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. Higher oil prices would complicate that picture by adding to inflation.
The threat to US bases also has a direct human dimension. Tens of thousands of American service members are stationed at bases across the Middle East and Europe, and Rezaei's warning — that bases involved in any new war would be targets — puts them squarely in the frame. The reported movement of aircraft from RAF Mildenhall and the reported relocation of Treasury Secretary Bessent suggest that the US government is taking the threat seriously.
7. What to Watch Next
Several things will determine whether this week becomes a turning point or another round of escalation that eventually cools. First, whether the two burning tankers are confirmed and what their flags and cargoes were — the details will shape the international reaction. Second, whether the United States responds to the explosions with further military action or with a renewed diplomatic push through Qatar and Pakistan.
Third, whether Iran follows through on its threat to target bases beyond the Gulf. The warning was conditional on a new American war, but the line between the current conflict and a new round of fighting is thin. Any American strike that Tehran reads as an escalation could trigger the response Rezaei described.
Finally, watch the oil price. Markets have so far treated the conflict as containable, but a sustained closure of the strait — or a direct attack on a US base — would change that calculation overnight. For now, the strait remains open but dangerous, the talks continue but stalled, and the warnings keep getting louder.
FAQs About the Strait of Hormuz and the Iran-US Tensions
What happened in the Strait of Hormuz overnight?
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy said on Thursday, 12 November, that two supertankers carrying more than four million barrels of oil exploded and were disabled in the Strait of Hormuz after using an unauthorised southern route. The claim has not been independently verified.
What did Iran's security chief threaten?
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned on X that if the US launches another war against Iran, every US military base involved — "from West Asia to Europe" — would be a legitimate target for Iranian strikes, adding: "NO SAFE DISTANCE. NO SAFE HAVEN. NO IMMUNITY."
Why is the Strait of Hormuz so important?
The strait is the world's most important oil chokepoint: roughly one-fifth of global oil normally passes through it. Any sustained disruption would push energy prices up worldwide.
When did the current war begin?
The latest round of US-Israeli operations against Iran began on 28 February 2026, when President Donald Trump announced major combat operations. The United States has since imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Are there diplomatic talks under way?
Yes. Talks led by Qatar and Pakistan are ongoing, and Iran has sent a nuclear proposal to the United States through Qatar. But the nuclear issue is, according to Rezaei, "not currently" part of the talks, and the two sides remain far apart.
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