Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said Friday that it struck a Togo-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the vessel of making an “illegal passage” through the strategic waterway.

IRGC Navy Commander Brigadier General Ali Azmaei said the tanker, identified as the Trend, was struck after allegedly attempting to pass through the Strait illegally. He said the vessel caught fire and came to a halt.

“The IRGC Navy warns once again that illegal passage through the Strait of Hormuz will bring nothing but the destruction of the offending vessel,” Azmaei said, reiterating Tehran’s claim that its forces maintain control over the vital waterway.

The Iranian announcement coincided with a report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) of a “security incident” in the Strait of Hormuz, approximately 16 nautical miles northeast of Khasab in Oman’s northern Musandam province.

UKMTO said the crew had been reported safe and that no environmental impact had been confirmed at the time of its report. Authorities were investigating the incident.

The reported incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints. Roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies pass through the waterway.

Tensions have remained high since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, when the United States and Israel launched a joint air campaign against targets in Iran. Tehran responded with missile and drone strikes against Israel and US-linked targets across the region.

Although the two sides reached a preliminary ceasefire in early April and later agreed to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in June, which established a truce and a 60-day negotiating period, further exchanges of strikes have continued.

The Strait of Hormuz has also become a major point of confrontation. A US naval blockade of Iranian ports has reportedly remained in effect since mid-July. US Central Command said Thursday that its forces had redirected 104 commercial vessels as part of efforts to enforce the blockade.

Iranian authorities said last week that Tehran had also expanded its maritime control zone beyond the Strait of Hormuz to waters near the southeastern port city of Chabahar, extending into the Sea of Oman and Arabian Sea.

The latest incident comes days after US President Donald Trump said the war with Iran could be approaching an end.

“Hopefully we're toward the end of the war,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina on Wednesday, adding that Iran was “very much wanting to make a deal.”

Asked whether he had recently been in direct contact with senior Iranian officials, Trump replied: “No, directly.”