Iran announced yesterday, Wednesday, that it had attacked more than ten ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, causing oil prices to spike, and announced that it would soon expand the area—beyond this strategically important waterway—where ships would be required to obtain permission to pass.
Tehran justified these attacks by citing retaliation for Tuesday’s U.S. strikes against five Iranian oil tankers and warnedits enemy once again.
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“The U.S. attacks against Iranian commercial vessels (…) constitute (…) a clear threat to regional and international peace and security,” the Foreign Ministry emphasized, invoking the right to “self-defense.”
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The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s powerful military force, reported that they targeted two U.S. warships in the Gulf region, eight oil tankers, and ten other commercial vessels attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran effectively closed when war broke out in the Middle East, following the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against the Islamic Republic on February 28.
The British maritime security intelligence agency UKMTO, which operates under the Ministry of Defense, reported ships on fire in various locations, without clarifying whether there were any casualties or environmental impacts.
Last night, Iranian state television reported an explosion—the causes of which it did not explain—in the southern part of the country, near the strait.
“New Escalation”
For players in the black gold market, this represents a “new escalation,” noted Arne Loman Rasmussen, an analyst at Global Risk Management.
While traffic through the Strait was unrestricted before the war broke out, Iran now requires ships to obtain permission to cross it, a demand rejected by the U.S. government and regional governments.
Tehran announced on Sunday that it would establish, within “a few days,” a new “no-go zone” near the waterway. The Revolutionary Guards clarified yesterday that it would extend to parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Any ship entering the zone without permission will face penalties, they warned.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military is imposing a blockade on Iran’s ports in the Gulf in retaliation for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the war broke out, traffic has virtually ground to a halt on this strategically important sea route, causing major problems in international energy markets and frequently sending crude oil prices soaring.
Yesterday, the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent crude jumped 3.4% to $101.21, surpassing the symbolic $100 mark for the first time since July.
The price of the corresponding U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also surged (3.25%) to $96.05.
Claims
More than six months after the outbreak of the war, U.S. President Donald Trump predicted yesterday that it would end “immediately after” the midterm elections—held in early November—during the middle of his second term.
The Iranians, who “cannot hold out much longer,” are “desperately” trying to influence the outcome of the U.S. elections, the Republican claimed.
A few hours earlier, the Revolutionary Guards had emphasized that the war would end when Washington stopped threatening Iran and accepted its basic demands.
They listed the following demands: to “refrain from any new threats,” to “withdraw Israeli military forces from Lebanon,” to “end the blockade of Yemen,” to “unfreeze Iranian assets (worth) $24 billion,” and to “refrain from any involvement in the country’s nuclear and ballistic capabilities.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose military participated in the first phase of the war beginning in late February, asserted yesterday that the Islamic Republic is on the verge of collapse. “There is still work to be done,” he said, but “the main task is to overthrow the terrorist regime in Iran,” and “we are very close” to achieving this goal, he said—just a few weeks before the parliamentary elections in Israel, which are critical to his own political survival.
While the issue of Iran’s nuclear program has been fueling tensions between Iran and the West for decades, the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported that construction work has intensified over the past year on Mount Kolang, in central Iran, where the U.S. suspects an underground nuclear facility will be housed — President Trump has threatened that the mountain may be bombed in the near future.
Yesterday, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to refer the Iranian case to the UN Security Council due to Tehran’s “failure” to meet its obligations.
The agreement in principle—the so-called memorandum of understanding—signed by the presidents of the U.S. and Iran in mid-June, which in theory paved the way for an end to the war, fell apart in July. Since then, the negotiation process has remained at an impasse.
Source: APE-MPE
