DUBAI: Iran on Sunday (Jul 12) said it 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 said in a statement, without giving any details about the ship.
The 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 US military said that it had launched a new round of strikes against Iran, after Tehran “blatantly attacked” a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
It was the third round of strikes against Iran this week, US Central Command said in a statement, “after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces blatantly attacked M/V GFS Galaxy, a Cyprus-flagged container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.
“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,” CENTCOM said, adding that the strikes were being carried out at the direction of President Donald Trump.