Iran: Two ‘violating’ oil tankers, including a supertanker, have been blown up and halted after they hit naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz in recent hours, the navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced. “The tankers were passing through the ‘unauthorised’ waterway when they hit the mines,” the navy said in a statement released on the IRGC’s official news site Sepah News on Sunday. “The ‘supertanker’ experienced a huge explosion and is now on fire. Navigation and Identification systems have been switched off.”

Iran has tightened its security around the strait on February 28, blocking safe passage for Israeli and US vessels after the two countries carried out joint attacks on Iran. Earlier, IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said that Iran has set the stage for a huge battlefield to cause damage to the ‘enemy’.

“Iran has never been more ready to respond to the enemy with decisive actions,” Mohebbi told a conference in southeast Iran’s Kerman province on Sunday. “The Supreme Leader (Mojtaba Khamenei) issued orders to senior military commanders recently, which has opened a new page in the war,” he said, according to Xinhua quoting the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “The Supreme Leader emphasised that there are no limits to the war with the United States… We have included finding new targets and planning operations in new areas on our agenda.” he said.

Iran’s supreme leader ordered senior commanders of its armed forces to ensure that if there is any level or type of threat from the ‘enemies’, they will respond “without delay and effectively”, regardless of where it may be, it was announced in a statement on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump was briefed by top US military officials on Thursday about options surrounding Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The United States has also warned several Gulf nations to prepare for a short, but fierce military operation against Iran following the US mid-terms.