A person monitors a vessel-tracking website showing ship movements through the Strait of Hormuz. Concerns over disruptions to maritime logistics and crude oil shipments are growing amid continued tensions between the United States and Iran over the waterway. [AFP]
A person monitors a vessel-tracking website showing ship movements through the Strait of Hormuz. Concerns over disruptions to maritime logistics and crude oil shipments are growing amid continued tensions between the United States and Iran over the waterway. [AFP]

Tensions in the Middle East are rising again after Iran announced it had conducted a military operation targeting hostile forces at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Two explosions were heard near the strait, and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would soon disclose the results of the operation.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency, citing local sources, reported Thursday that two explosions near Qeshm Island in southern Iran resulted from an IRGC operation to neutralize enemy targets at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

"The explosions heard near Qeshm Island are related to a military operation to neutralize hostile targets at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz," a source said. "The specific results of the operation are expected to be announced within a few hours."

The explosions occurred at around 10:40 p.m. Thursday local time in Iran, or 7:10 p.m. GMT.

Iranian authorities did not disclose which targets were struck or the extent of any damage.

The announcement came amid Iran's push to advance legislation restricting passage of American and Israeli vessels through the strait. Iran's parliamentary National Security Committee had earlier said it was reviewing a measure to ban ships from the United States, Israel and other hostile nations from transiting the waterway.

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical energy corridor through which roughly 20 percent of the world's seaborne crude oil passes. As Iran presses ahead with military operations and signals moves to restrict transit rights, the international community is closely watching how rising tensions in the strait could affect global oil supply and maritime shipping.


sjy@heraldcorp.com