🇮🇷 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 🇱🇧 ⚠️ #NEW #Iran Re-Closes Strait, Gunboats Fire On Tanker, Accuses #UnitedStates Of Violating Ceasefire Through "Piracy" Of Coastal And Port Blockade, #Israel Seeks Further #Lebanon Invasion Campaign:
CAIRO (AP) — The dueling blockades in the Strait of Hormuz lurched into uncharted waters on Saturday. The United States pressed ahead with its campaign to choke off Iranian ports and Iran reversed an initial move to reopen the waterway, firing on a ship attempting to pass.
Confusion over the critical chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence a new deal was within reach.
Iran’s joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait has returned to its previous state ... under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U. S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
Two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center said on Saturday. It reported the tanker and crew as safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination. http://TankerTrackers.com/ reported vessels were forced to turn around in the strait, including an Indian-flagged super tanker, after they were fired on by Iran.
Iran announced earlier Saturday it was reimposing restrictions on the strait in response to a U. S. blockade on Iranian shipping and ports. Iran has prevented vessels from crossing throughout the seven-week-long war, except for ones it authorizes.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, said that the strait was “returning to the status quo,” which he had earlier described as ships requiring naval authorization and toll payment before transiting.
The shift came a day after Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared the strait open while a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week’s ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that deal did not cover Lebanon.
U. S. President Donald Trump first appeared to take a similar position on reopening the strait before later saying the blockade “will remain in full force” regardless of what Iran does until a deal is reached, including about Iran’s nuclear program.
Even as the U. S.-Iran ceasefire appeared to hold, the back-and-forth over the strait — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes — highlighted how easily it could unravel
A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran’s approval.
U. S. forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, U. S. Central Command said on X.
Shortly before Trump’s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90% of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and U. N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
The war, which began with U. S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, 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 U. S. service members have also been killed.
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