MUSCAT, Oman — Oman said on Friday it had rescued 25 sailors from a merchant ship that was targeted and set ablaze, as Iran reported three oil tankers were halted while crossing the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

 

Muscat's navy "carried out an evacuation operation for 25 crew members of the merchant ship RITI, flying the Panamanian flag, after it was targeted, which led to a fire breaking out on board", Oman's Maritime Security Centre said in a statement.

 

The crew members were provided with medical care, the Omani statement said, without giving details. The Marine Traffic ship-tracking website described the RITI as a crude oil tanker.

 

Tehran has restricted maritime traffic through the strait since the Middle East war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

 

The narrow strait, which normally carries a fifth of global oil, has become a focal point of the war with ships regularly coming under Iranian fire.

 

In a video released on Friday, US Central Command chief Brad Cooper said US forces had "successfully cleared the strait's internationally recognized primary transit routes of Iranian sea mines" and remain "present to ensure that all primary transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz remain free and clear".

 

Cooper said he visited some of the more than 50,000 US service members in the region, repeating earlier statements that the US has helped Gulf countries export more than 1.5 billion barrels via the strait since the summer.

 

Earlier Iran's Revolutionary Guards said three oil tankers had been halted after encountering unspecified "incidents" or hitting mines.

 

"Two offending oil tankers, one in the eastern part and the other in the western part of the Strait of Hormuz, which were attempting to pass through the unauthorised route, encountered incidents and were brought to a halt in the waters south of the strait," the IRGC said in a statement.

 

Iran has demanded that vessels use a designated route through the strait and coordinate their passage with the country's armed forces, labelling a southern corridor closer to Oman's shores as unauthorised.

 

The tankers had "switched off all their navigation and positioning systems and, with the support of the terrorist US military, were attempting to exit through the unauthorised route", the Guards' statement said.

 

The Guards did not specify the nature of the incidents, which came a day after Iran's armed forces said at least four tankers had stopped in the area after hitting mines.

 

They said Friday's incidents occurred after the vessels received several radio warnings but disregarded them.

 

The IRGC later said in a separate statement that a supertanker carrying two million barrels of oil had stopped following an explosion "after striking a naval mine while navigating an unauthorised route through the Strait of Hormuz".

 

"This is the third oil tanker to have exploded and caught fire today as a result of attempting to pass through an unauthorised route," it added.

 

The United States has responded to Iran's blockade of the strait with a counterblockade of Iranian ports, further restricting Tehran's ability to export oil and conduct trade.