Iran says Strait of Hormuz is closed after striking vessel using ‘unauthorised route’

Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed once again after a vessel using an unauthorised route was hit by a warning shot, intensifying tensions despite a fragile ceasefire with the United States. (a file picture) | Photo Credit: KIM SOO-HYEON

Iran said it considers the Strait of Hormuz closed once again after a vessel using an unauthorised route was struck by a warning shot in the critical waterway, further jeopardising the already tenuous ceasefire agreement with the United States.

The White House and US military officials offered no immediate comment on the closure, nor did they say whether American retaliation could be coming.

The announcement followed Iran and Oman's foreign ministers meeting on Saturday to discuss the strait that lies between them, after days of Iranian attacks on ships and U.S. retaliation that dealt a blow to the interim deal to end the war.

Iran's new supreme leader, still unseen since the war began, vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war's opening strikes on February 28.

Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried on state television, hours after US President Donald Trump threatened more missile attacks.

Oman said it and Iran agreed to keep talking about the Strait of Hormuz “at the technical and political levels,” a day after the United States called on Iran to publicly say the crucial waterway is open and ships won't be attacked.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he met with his counterpart in Oman to discuss “appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships.” The world for decades has considered the strait an international waterway. Iran has insisted that the strait now remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, a stance it took after the war began. The US urges mariners to transit on a southern route through Oman's territorial waters.

About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran's grip on it during the war led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of USD 120 a barrel.

Iran's top diplomat also accused the US of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in US dollars. Washington ended them in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.

A thousand "missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat," Trump wrote on social media overnight He said he was responding to threats "to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate" him. During Khamenei's funeral, mourners held posters or banners calling for Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump has declared the ceasefire over but said the US would continue negotiations.