Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday, November 4, that four oil tankers had been destroyed by naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement followed statements from US officials a day earlier that American forces had carried out strikes on Iran.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the IRGC's account that two of the tankers remained on fire and another two had been seized. The force said the vessels had attempted to pass through a prohibited route in the southern part of the strait. The BBC said it had not independently verified the claim.
Early on Tuesday, the IRGC had also reported that mines had destroyed three tankers and that its forces had brought down an MQ-9 drone over the strait. The earlier American strikes on Qeshm followed IRGC fire directed at a US aircraft.
The latest claims coincided with Republican losses in the US midterm elections. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliamentary speaker and top negotiator, interpreted the results as a rejection of war. Writing on X, he said that whether motivated by conscience or living costs, Americans had opposed the conflict, a message Iran endorsed. He warned Washington against disregarding that public sentiment and threatened consequences if it did.
US President Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that the war with Iran and the resulting rise in petrol prices had contributed to Republican congressional candidates' poor performance. He nevertheless said he did not regret starting the conflict. Speaking to CBS News, the BBC's US partner, Trump said it would end "when I say it ends".
In a Financial Times interview before Tuesday's vote, Trump indicated satisfaction with the situation and questioned whether the countries were truly at war. Asked about Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu's comments that Iran would face another attack that week, he said US forces were prepared to act if necessary, while suggesting an attack might be unnecessary. Later, in an interview with Fox News, he said some people wanted a major strike on Iran and reiterated that the country would never possess a nuclear weapon.
Negotiations to end the conflict, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, have made no apparent breakthrough after months of deadlock. Addressing parliament on Tuesday, Ghalibaf said Iran would not surrender and placed responsibility for preventing war on Washington. He warned that another US strategic mistake would bring a different battlefield and make finding an exit more difficult.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that his government had sought to resolve the crisis through dialogue and that renewed fighting would benefit nobody. Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz in response to the attack and says reopening depends on US acceptance of its peace demands. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said this week that Iran's seven-step proposal had been condensed and could be carried out within two days if Washington agreed.
