Evidence

Multiple independent outlets (Shafaq News, news.az, Tasnim News Agency, SBS, Sunday Guardian, WANA) reported on an Iranian Navy statement issued around October 13-14 concerning an oil tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz. According to these reports, the Iranian Navy said its surveillance teams 'detected' or 'identified' a tanker that had switched off its location-tracking device and was attempting to pass through a designated prohibited/restricted navigation zone in the eastern Strait of Hormuz, after which the vessel caught fire and was damaged. The wording used in translated Iranian Navy statements and most news coverage is 'detected/identified' rather than explicitly 'targeted' or 'attacked,' so it is unclear from available reporting whether Iran's navy claimed to have actively struck the vessel or merely to have observed/monitored it before/as it caught fire. No Reuters Fact Check, AFP Fact Check, Bellingcat, or EUvsDisinfo investigation of this specific claim was found in search results.