IRGC Says 3 Tankers On Fire In Hormuz, Challenges US Narrative Strait Is 'Demined'

Three tankers exploded ​and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after attempting 'unauthorized' passage over the prior 24 hours, according to Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on Thursday.The trio of vessels are alleged to have ignored warnings from the IRGC Navy, having also switched off their radar and ‌navigation systems, apparently as part of US-backed operations to ferry crude out of the strait.Stocktrek/Photodisc/Getty ImagesBritish maritime agency UKMTO confirmed that at least one of the ships is on fire, and has conveyed a report that another is also in distress.News of the vessel hits emerged after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X Wednesday that Iran "continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed" - even as Tehran has continued to hold a firm line on not being willing to negotiate the nuclear file until after the conflict is closed.DropSite News reviews of the diplomatic front, which has long been stalemated with no forward momentum of late:Iran is in "close and ongoing contact with intermediaries" to carry out its 7-Day Plan "in even less than a week," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X Wednesday, adding that Iran "continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed."A new Qatari draft deal, delivered to Tehran on Sunday, would have Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz within four days of sanctions being lifted, down from the seven Iran originally proposed, the Guardian reported. Iran's response is expected by the end of the week.Iranian leaders have also "received well" a letter from Vice President JD Vance proposing renewed talks and a meeting, The New York Times reported. The Times said a response to that is expected on Thursday.Very remote, vague footage has emerged purporting to show a tanker burning on Thursday:On the letter, the White House thinking is that a better diplomatic result could be achieved by opening dialogue with other echelons within Tehran leadership."Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, and previously Iran’s longest-serving commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the people," The Wall Street Journal initially reported late Wednesday."The letter was sent at Trump’s direction, one person said, and Trump is aware of the outreach. Vance is testing whether Tehran and Washington could find enough common ground to persuade Trump not to give a final order for a short, intense attack on Iran in the coming weeks," WSJ continues.But all the while Iran's efforts to impose serious economic damage by seeking daily attacks on international shipping have persisted.Iran has also asserting that Pentagon and White House declarations that the US has successfully demined the strait is false.The spokesman for the IRGC, Brigadier-General Hossein Mohebi, has told US Central Command (CENTCOM) to "prove Hormuz’s de-mining claim with independent evidence, not a statement."Iran also announced Thursday its forces hijacked an 'American spy drone' over the Strait of Hormuz and that it has landed intact:"The reality of the Strait of Hormuz takes place in the sky, land and sea – not in cyberspace and American media war rooms," Mohebi said in a statement posted online. Apparently the Iranian side is offering as fresh 'proof' multiple burning tankers in the region in question.