IRGC Navy Declares Closure of Hormuz Strait

In a statement released early Sunday, the IRGC Navy said that as announce previously, “foreign interference and the illegal designation of the route of ships in the Strait of Hormuz would result in our decisive action and would disrupt the process of increasing traffic in the Strait.”

It added, “A few hours ago, these warnings were ignored and, provoked by foreigners, several ships attempted to move along the unapproved route and ignored our warnings and reminders to correct the route and move along the approved route.

“Inevitably, a ship that had endangered maritime security by turning off its systems was hit by warning shots and stopped.”

The statement went on to say that following this incident, “firstly, due to the emergence of this insecurity resulting from illegal intervention by foreigners, the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region, and no vessels will be allowed to pass through. Secondly, if the aggressor enemy makes a mistake and carries out a new aggression against us under the pretext of this incident, which it himself caused, we will respond severely and new enemy bases in the region will be targeted.”

The IRGC warned that the consequences of such an intervention are the responsibility of the American-Zionist enemy and the countries that have made their territory available to the enemy base for these threats.

Iran shut down the chokepoint to enemies and their allies after February 28, when the US and the Israeli regime began their latest bout of wholesale unprovoked aggression against the Islamic Republic.

It began exercising far stricter controls after Donald Trump announced continuation of an illegal naval blockade of Iranian vessels and ports in spite of a ceasefire that the US president, himself, had declared on April 7.

In May, Iran officially launched a new mechanism for governing maritime traffic through the strategic strait, with the Islamic Republic warning vessels against refusing to coordinate their pending transits with Iranian authorities and using routes other than the supervisory management zone defined by Tehran.

In June, Iran and the United States reached an understanding aimed at ending the cycle arising from the unprovoked aggression. Washington then alleged to have lifted the blockade, but would still continue military interference in the waterway./tasnim