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The new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Sunday said Tehran plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.
Mohsen Rezaei’s comments to Iran’s state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at U.S. warships. Experts called the launches a dangerous escalation after Iran’s previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping.
The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and “will begin from the line of the U.S. naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf,” Rezaei said. “Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list.”
It is not clear where Iran defines the location of the weeks-long U.S. blockade, which is aimed at Iranian ports and keeping Tehran from shipping out its oil. The U.S. military has said more than 20 warships are supporting the blockade, which as of Sunday had redirected 92 commercial ships and disabled three.
The U.S. has been introducing new measures to increase the economic pain on Iran after negotiations collapsed and no end to the intermittent fighting appears in sight.
Iran claims strike on U.S. ship, which U.S. denies
Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack some ships trying to transit the strait, which has become an important source of leverage for Tehran in the war that began more than six months ago with U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Iran said on Sunday it struck an unmanned U.S. vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, a claim that the U.S. military dismissed as a “total lie.”
It was the latest salvo in a new flare-up of fighting between the two countries.
The purported attack came a day after the U.S. military said forces struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to a missile attack on its warships.
The war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. But since a ceasefire agreement was announced in June, on-and-off fighting has persisted, with both sides trying to inflict military and economic pain as negotiations have collapsed.
Strikes come about a week after fighting resumed
The U.S. and Iran resumed attacks last week, following a month of relative calm, with the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian communities along it again being targeted. At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a U.S. bombardment of southern Iran.
The Trump administration appears to have adopted a two-pronged approach to the conflict, responding militarily to attacks on the strait while going after foreign financial institutions that handle Iran’s money.
But Tehran’s new hardline senior leaders have signalled a willingness to dig in after weathering decades of sanctions.
Iran has found ways over the years to circumvent sanctions — and now the U.S. blockade — and get its oil to buyers to help ease growing economic pressures. That relies in part on a shadow fleet transporting its oil.
Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program, the issue that contributed to the outbreak of the war, was meant to be addressed in negotiations that fell apart soon after the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June.
Diplomats say the U.S., Britain, France and Germany seek to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council for failure to comply with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
WATCH | Fighting flared up last week in Iran:
U.S., Iran trade new strikes, warnings as hostilities flare
The U.S. launched a fresh round of airstrikes against Iran on Tuesday, following a weekend exchange of fire that broke a month of relative calm in the conflict. Tehran said it responded with missiles and drones on U.S. targets in the region while warning that U.S. attacks would ‘tighten the lock’ on the Strait of Hormuz.
Instead, Tehran’s new leverage focuses on the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began.
On the matter of the collapsed negotiations with the U.S., Iran’s Rezaei on Sunday expressed wariness not only of the U.S. but also of the mediators. The memorandum of understanding that the U.S. and Iran signed in mid-June began to fall apart within days as each side accused the other of violations.
“We had trusted our friends in Pakistan, Qatar or Oman, thinking that since they had stepped in as mediators, one of a mediator’s responsibilities is that if one side violates the agreement, they should stop them,” Rezaei said. “We are now pursuing diplomacy with guarantees.”
U.S. says 9 million barrels a day pass through strait
The Strait of Hormuz is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began.
On Sunday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that on average, nine million barrels of oil a day are getting through the strait, which should help to relieve pressure on energy prices.
His estimate appeared to exceed average flows over the past 28 days through the strait, according to TankerTrackers.com and other sources.
Wright told CNN that with oil also flowing through pipelines in the region, “we’re probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows.”
But those flows depend on the presence of the U.S. navy to help escort tankers and provide some protection against possible Iranian attack. Wright said he expected that other countries would eventually support the navy’s efforts.
Meanwhile, in his interview with state TV, Rezaei claimed that “every day we are selling one million, one and a half million [barrels], as if Iran’s oil production and trade are continuing as usual.”