A US oil tanker has been struck and is on fire, Iranian state media has claimed. The Tasnim news outlet reports the oil tanker was travelling in the northern Persian Gulf when it was hit by the IRGC Navy.

The state news outlet didn't provide any evidence of the strike, and the US hasn't yet commented on this. In a post on the social media platform Telegram, Tasnim also reported a direct threat to Israel, branded "Zionist regime" and Europe, plunging the world deepest into fears the conflict started on Saturday will spread further across the world. The threat read: "Everyone must comply with this, and we had warned that military and commercial vessels belonging to the US, the Zionist regime, European countries, and their supporters will not be allowed to pass and will surely be targeted if detected, by the grace of God."

According to the reports, the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed its navy hit a US tanker in the northern Gulf this morning, noting that military and commercial vessels belonging to the US, Israel and European countries that support them “will not be allowed to pass through”.

The IRGC said: "If they are observed, they will certainly be hit. We had previously said that, based on international laws and resolutions, in times of war, the Islamic Republic of Iran will have the right to control the passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s Tasnim News reports.