The Iranian Armed Forces stated this Monday that they had prevented United States Navy vessels from accessing the Strait of Hormuz, after President Donald Trump said that US naval forces would begin escorting stranded ships through the critical waterway.
«Additional news will be announced later,» authorities said in a brief statement released by the Iranian state news agency Tasnim. Meanwhile, Iranian media outlets affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard reported that a US Navy frigate had been targeted by missiles in the strait.
«The frigate, which was sailing on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, violating maritime navigation and safety regulations near the port of Jask, was targeted by a missile attack after ignoring a warning from the Iranian Navy,» the Fars news agency detailed, without citing a source. Trump Administration sources, however, have denied that one of their vessels was hit, the news outlet Axios reported.
Trump had said that, from early Monday, the United States would begin guiding stranded ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for transporting oil, gas and fertilisers, before war broke out on 28 February and Iran effectively closed the waterway, thereby driving up energy prices.
The US-led Joint Maritime Information Centre had advised ships to cross the strait through Omani waters, saying it had established an «enhanced security zone.» The US military has said the initiative could involve guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and 15,000 personnel, but has not specified what kind of assistance or escorts it would provide to ships.
It was unclear whether any vessel was attempting to cross the strait, or whether shipping companies and their insurers would feel comfortable taking the risk, given that Iran has fired at ships in the waterway and has promised to continue doing so.
Iranian control over traffic through this artery, crucial for global oil and gas supplies, has proven to be a major strategic advantage in its war with the United States and Israel, allowing Iran to inflict tremendous pain on the global economy.
The Ceasefire at Risk
The Trump Administration’s effort to reactivate maritime transit in Hormuz risks undoing the fragile ceasefire that has held for more than three weeks.
President Trump, announcing on Sunday that the United States would «guide» ships out of the strait, warned that any Iranian attempts to block them «will unfortunately have to be confronted forcefully.»
The president described what he called «Project Freedom» and argued that the plan is designed to help stranded sailors; many on oil tankers or cargo vessels have been trapped in the Persian Gulf since the conflict began.
The disruption of the waterway has pressured countries in Europe and Asia that depend on oil and gas from the Persian Gulf, driving up prices for petrol, food and other products far beyond the region.
The United States has warned shipping companies that they could face sanctions if they pay Iran for transit through the Strait. Furthermore, it imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports on 13 April; since then, it has ordered 49 commercial ships to turn around, the US Central Command reported on Sunday.
