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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Sunday it had closed the strait of Hormuz after a vessel travelled on an unapproved route and was struck, warning that any retaliation over the incident would be met with a “severe response”.
“A vessel that had jeopardised maritime security by switching off its systems was struck and brought to a halt,” the navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement, without giving any details about the ship.
US Central Command said a short time later that its forces began a third round of strikes against Iran. “The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the military said.
A Cyprus-flagged container ship struck by Iran suffered “significant engine room damage”, and a civilian crew member is missing, US Central Command said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said on Sunday that it received a report of an incident nine nautical miles east of Oman. Military authorities have reported a container ship sustained damage to the rear of the vessel which has caused a fire onboard, it said.
Iran’s statement said several ships attempted to move through the waterway on an “unauthorised route” and disregarded warnings to correct their course. The strait, the IRGC said, was closed “until further notice” and until “the end of US interference in this region.” Acts of aggression against Iran “will be met with a severe response, and new enemy bases in the region will be targeted,” the navy said.
The latest incident comes amid efforts in Oman to discuss the fate of the strait. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi met Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi to exchange “views on appropriate mechanisms for the safe passage of ships through the strait of Hormuz”, according to a statement from Tehran.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Iran, the US, Qatar and Pakistan had agreed to negotiate in a call that mediators were trying to arrange for Saturday while Araqchi was in Oman. It was not immediately clear whether the efforts were successful.
The latest diplomatic moves followed exchanges of rhetoric between Tehran and Washington. Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Saturday vowed revenge for the killing of his father and predecessor, hours after US president Donald Trump threatened severe reprisals in the event of any attempt on his life.
“Vengeance is the will of our nation and must inevitably be carried out,” new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written message. “This matter depends neither on my personal existence nor on that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass,” he wrote in his first message since his father’s funeral this week. He said Iran had compiled a list of individuals to be targeted.
Both sides carried out exchanges of fire earlier this week, rocking an interim agreement aimed at ending the war, which broke out in late February with massive US-Israeli strikes that killed the then supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Trump has declared the ceasefire over while leaving the door open for talks, and mediators have been trying to salvage a diplomatic solution, with Iranian media reporting that a delegation from Qatar travelled to Iran on Friday.
Hours earlier, Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform that any attempt to assassinate him would lead the United States to “completely decimate” Iran.
“۱۰۰۰ missiles are locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!,” he wrote.
News outlets Axios and Politico reported that Washington has given Tehran until Saturday to stop firing on commercial ships transiting Hormuz and acknowledge the waterway is open.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters
