Iran on Monday warned that it would retaliate against any fresh US attacks on its assets, as tensions continued to escalate in the Gulf following a weekend exchange of strikes that sent oil prices to six-week highs.
The strikes followed attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on US warships in the region. An average of 10 commodity ships passed through the strait each day over the past 10 days, the lowest level since May, according to shipping data on Monday.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf issued the warning, saying the region’s energy infrastructure and US oil and gas interests remained vulnerable to retaliation, according to a Reuters report. “Strike our assets and you get struck,” Ghalibaf said after US and Iranian strikes on shipping over the weekend. Rezaei said the new restricted zone would start from the point where the US naval blockade of Iran begins and extend into parts of the Gulf. Any ship entering the zone would be added to an Iranian sanctions list, he said. “We will only commit to the Strait of Hormuz being open when they (the Americans) stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran,” Rezaei said. US President Donald Trump has yet to achieve the objectives he set when he launched “Operation Epic Fury” in February, including ending Iran’s nuclear programme, preventing it from attacking neighbouring countries and creating conditions for the country’s leadership to be toppled.
The warning came after senior Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei said on Sunday that Tehran would announce plans for a new restricted zone in the Gulf and approve maps for a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days. US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, including one off Kharg Island, Iran’s key oil export hub, according to US Central Command.
