Cairo, Apr 19: The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz escalated again Saturday as Iran reversed its reopening of the crucial waterway and fired on ships attempting to pass, in retaliation after the United States pressed ahead with its blockade of Iranian ports.
The strait is closed until the US blockade is lifted, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy said Saturday night, warning that “no vessel should make any movement from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered as cooperation with the enemy” and be targeted.
New attacks on the strait, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil normally passes, threatened to deepen the global energy crisis and push the countries into renewed conflict as the war entered its eighth week.
A fragile ceasefire is due to run out by Wednesday. Iran said it had received new proposals from the United States, and Pakistani mediators were working to arrange another round of direct negotiations.
Iran’s joint military command earlier said “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.”
Revolutionary Guard gunboats opened fire on a tanker and an unknown projectile hit a container vessel, damaging some containers, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. India’s foreign ministry said it summoned Iran’s ambassador over the “serious incident” of firing on two India-flagged merchant ships, especially after Iran earlier let several India-bound ships through.
For Iran, the strait’s closure — imposed after the US and Israel launched the war on February 28 during talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme — is perhaps its most powerful weapon, threatening the world economy and inflicting political pain on President Donald Trump. For the United States, the blockade keeps up pressure and could strangle Iran’s already weakened economy.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued defiant remarks on Saturday, saying the navy stands “ready to inflict bitter defeats on its enemies.” He has not been seen in public since being elevated to the post following his father’s death in Israel’s opening barrage.
A turnaround a day after Iran said the strait was open
On Friday, Iran announced the strait’s reopening to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. The reopening caused oil prices to fall.
Trump, however, said the US blockade of Iran’s ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States. Trump had imposed the blockade after a round of historic face-to-face talks in Pakistan between the countries ended without an agreement.
US forces have sent 23 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said Saturday. Trump’s comments triggered an outcry.
“Americans are risking the international community, risking the global economy through these, I can say, miscalculations,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told The Associated Press, adding that the US is “risking the whole ceasefire package.”
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a statement calling the blockade a violation of the ceasefire and said Iran would prevent “any conditional and limited reopening” of the strait. The council has recently acted as Iran’s de facto top decision-making body.
Since most supplies to US military bases in the Gulf region come through the strait, “Iran is determined to maintain oversight and control over traffic through the strait until the war fully ends,” the council said. That means Iran-designated routes, payment of fees and issuance of transit certificates.
The Revolutionary Guard navy statement later indicated that no vessel should attempt a transit at all.
Pakistan pushes for progress toward a new deal
The renewed standoff over the strait came hours after Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country was working to “bridge” differences between the US and Iran. Pakistan is expected to host a second round of negotiations early next week.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said “new proposals” from the US had been put forward during a visit to Iran by Pakistan’s army chief and were being reviewed.
But Khatibzadeh said the Iranians were not ready for a new round of face-to-face talks because the Americans “have not abandoned their maximalist position.”
He also said Iran will not hand over its stock of 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium to the United States, calling the idea “a non-starter.” Khatibzadeh did not address other proposals for the enriched uranium, saying only that “we are ready to address any concerns.”
Trump said Saturday that Iran “got a little cute” but that “very good” conversations were happening, and more information would come by day’s end. “They can’t blackmail us,” he added.
On Friday, Trump said the US will go into Iran and “get all the nuclear dust,” referring to the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under nuclear sites badly damaged by US military strikes last year.
French peacekeeper is killed in Lebanon
French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed and three others were wounded Saturday during an attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. “Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah,” Macron wrote on social media. The UNIFIL peacekeeping force also blamed Hezbollah.
Hezbollah denied involvement.
Pakistan’s foreign minister said fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been a key sticking point in US-Iran talks, and the declaration of a ceasefire in Lebanon was seen as a boost to efforts for an Iran agreement.
It was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a truce it did not play a role in negotiating, especially with Israeli troops still occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and the capital’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return home until it was clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Iran war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have been killed.
