Tehran and Washington continue to exchange fire “here and there” as they vie for control of the strategic waterway.
The US military has attacked two more Iranian-flagged oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman as Washington continues its voyage. “freedom of navigation” blockade, while Tehran has equated control of the Strait of Hormuz with possession “atomic bomb.”
The U.S. Central Command said Friday that U.S. forces shot down two people “opened” Iranian oil tankers, M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, which it claimed were testing “to violate” US restrictions on entering Iranian ports.
The Iranian military is expected to respond “ceasefire violations and US terrorism and strikes,” a military official told local media, but the US military did not report any damage.
The Strait of Hormuz has become one of Tehran’s main negotiating channels, after Iran closed the waterway early in the war, stranding hundreds of ships and energy markets.
“The Strait of Hormuz is the equivalent of an atomic bomb,” Mohammad Mokhber, senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, he said Friday, as quoted by Press TV.
He vowed that Iran would not do that “losing the benefits of this war” and said Tehran will try to change the legal system of the strait through international law if possible and unilaterally if necessary.
The United States has rejected Iran’s ambitions as “unacceptable,” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying on Friday that Washington would never allow Tehran to do so “normal” his hold on Hormuz.
The United States insists its naval sanctions are intended to restore freedom of navigation and pressure Tehran into a deal, while Iran accuses Washington of violating an April ceasefire by targeting commercial shipping.
The latest incident in the narrow maritime choke point, through which most of the world’s oil and gas cargoes pass, came a day after US and Iranian forces exchanged fire. The US War Department claimed that three US destroyers met “without prompting” missiles, drones, and small boat attacks, and that US forces retaliated against Iranian launch sites, command and control sites, and surveillance sites.
Tehran, however, accused Washington of striking first, claiming that US forces targeted an Iranian oil tanker in its territorial waters and attacked civilian areas on Iran’s southern coast.
Trump dismissed the exchange as a “love pipe” after Tehran “played” and the United States, but he warned that if the agreement really falls apart, “You’ll just have to look at one big light from Iran,” urging Tehran to sign the agreement “quick.”
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