Hormuz attacks intensify as efforts to end war on Iran stall

IRGC warns against ignoring the ‘security and rules’ of the strategic waterway as US CENTCOM says it disabled vessel trying to run naval blockade. Save Share US bombs cargo vessel in Gulf of Oman 'trying to run Iran blockade' Tehran, Iran Tehran, Iran –Strikes around the strategic Strait of Hormuz have picked up again as mediated efforts to end the US-Israel war on Iran remain deadlocked. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Saturday night that an unnamed crude oil supertanker hit a naval mine and suffered a major fire while using an unauthorised route in the waterway with navigation systems turned off. In a statement, it warned of a similar fate for any oil tanker that “wishes to ignore the security and rules” of the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes in peacetime. On Sunday, a senior Iranian army official told state television that the country’s forces remain prepared for both defensive and offensive operations, more than seven months since the United States and Israel started the war by attacking Iran on February 28. “We have struck blows against enemy vessels. If anything else happens against Iran, we will strike them again,” said Habibollah Sayyari, chief of staff and joint coordinator of the army. His comments came after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported several incidents ofmilitary action or warnings against vesselsin the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman over the past day. It said ship masters in the vicinity of Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had been directed via radio broadcast overnight to move from their anchorages. And on Sunday afternoon, UKMTO reported ⁠an unidentified projectile had struck a tanker ⁠heading outbound through the Strait of ⁠Hormuz. Separately, the UAE said its coastguard had rescued 22 crew members after a fire broke out at an unnamed tanker close to its shores, although it did not identify the cause of the blaze. Early on Sunday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) released footage of a fighter jet bombing the stern of a Panama-flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman and disabling its propulsion to enforce itsnaval blockade of Iran’s southern ports. Since the US reimposed the blockade in mid-July, CENTCOM says its forces have disabled four commercial vessels, turned around 135 ships and destroyed 10 tankers linked with Iran. Washington says Tehran has exported no oil through the blockade line....