Iran on Monday said it would announce a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days.
Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said any ship attempting to pass through the zone would be placed on Tehran’s sanctions list.
Speaking in a recent interview with state-run IRIB TV, he said the zone would stretch from “the line where the U.S. naval blockade begins to the Strait of Hormuz region and inside the Persian Gulf on the other side (of the strait).”
He said vessels entering the zone without prior coordination with Iran would face sanctions affecting their insurance coverage and future passage through the waterway.
According to Mr Rezaei, the measure formed part of a broader strategic shift in Iran’s approach to war and diplomacy aimed at increasing pressure on Washington.
He insisted that the Strait of Hormuz remained completely closed, dismissing U.S. claims that ships and oil tankers were crossing the waterway as a “lie”.
Mr Rezaei said some vessels had attempted to cross the strait through a route near Oman, with some switching off their navigation systems to avoid detection.
He said most of the vessels receive blows, adding that Iran had no intention of sinking them for now due to environmental concerns.
The Iranian official also disclosed that Iran had, for the first time, test fired a domestically developed anti-destroyer missile over a U.S. aircraft carrier 48 hours earlier.
He described the test as a warning that the U.S. naval blockade was vulnerable.
“The special missile created hell for the Americans, and they fled,” Mr Rezaei said.
Mr Rezaei said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the United States took practical steps to fulfil its obligations under a peace memorandum of understanding signed by Tehran and Washington in June.
He added that Iran and Oman would announce a new international corridor for passage through the strait in the coming days.
The corridor, he said, would be managed by Iran.
Following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Tehran restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, while U.S. forces imposed a naval blockade targeting vessels travelling to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.
(Xinhua/NAN)