Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) calimed it struck and stopped two oil tankers that tried to cross the Strait of Hormuz along an "unauthorised route" under US air escort, the state news reported on July 31.

The claim marks the latest confrontation over the waterway, which the IRGC has said will stay closed while US forces operate in the region, and which normally carries about a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade. Independent verification of the strikes was unavailable, and the US military has provided a competing account of events in the strait in recent weeks.

The IRGC said the two tankers were hit and halted in the early hours after ignoring warnings, and that four other tankers rapidly changed course and turned back. The statement, issued as communiqué 57 of the Nasr 2 operation, said the vessels had been drawn onto an unsafe and illegal route by US Central Command.

The IRGC said it had told shipowners and insurers the previous night to disregard CENTCOM notices, and repeated that it retained full control of the strait.

"Illegal interventions and orders of the US, a child-killing army, will not go unanswered," the statement said.

CENTCOM has said it redirected six commercial vessels and disabled one to enforce what it called a blockade against Iranian oil, and has struck Iranian military targets it accuses of threatening shipping.

The IRGC did not identify the tankers or say whether there were casualties.

Earlier on July 31, US President Donald Trump announced that the Board of Peace reached a "historic" agreement with Hamas to disarm, with control of Gaza to be transferred to a technocratic government.

It is unknown if the strike by Iran is related to the US announcement earlier in the day, with no mention by Iran if it is opposed to a peace deal between Hamas and Israel. 

Should the agreement hold, this would mark a significant breakthrough in the progress being made by the Board of Peace. In July, IntelliNews noted that Hamas was considering giving up its power in the Gaza Strip, following the IDF’s extension of its operational control beyond 70% of the Gaza Strip. Up until that point, the Board of Peace was unable to pressure Hamas to disarm.