TEHRAN, July 2: All commercial vessels are obliged to take the Iranian-designated maritime route for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz or face the consequences, Iran’s military headquarters warns according to Al Jazeera.
“Any US interference in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with a decisive and swift response from the armed forces,” the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a statement.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not the playground of the aggressor America, but rather the territory of the undisputed sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The Fars News Agency quoted the statement as saying: “The security and maintenance of the stability of this vital waterway are the red line of the powerful armed forces of Islamic Iran.”
Iran’s joint military command warned Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response,” again ratcheting up tensions over a waterway crucial for international energy supplies.
The strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has emerged as one of the top issues in negotiations to reach a permanent end to the Iran war. The statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya military command, reported by Iranian state television, comes after both US and Iranian diplomats met with mediators on Wednesday in Qatar.
It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the threat from Iran. However, the US military’s Central Command had put out a statement about having a meeting with officials from Mideast nations in Bahrain that said “leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz.”
That appears to have been the phrase to anger Iran, which is preparing for the funeral that begins this weekend for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s first moments in February.
“Any failure to comply, deviation from the designated route, or disregard for the navigation protocols of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and forceful response from the armed forces, endangering the security of the violating vessels,” the Iranian statement said.
Iran and the United States agreed as part of an interim deal to allow ships to pass without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran insisted it must control the routes of the vessels and later charge fees for passage, upending decades of practice in the waterway.
The US and many Gulf Arab states say they won’t agree to the charges. An effort by Oman and a United Nations agency to launch a new route near Oman’s shore sparked attacks across the Mideast last weekend, highlighting the tensions.
Despite the tensions, Wednesday’s talks saw “positive progress,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said. He told journalists that Pakistan hoped the next round of talks would be scheduled as soon as possible after Khamenei’s funeral.�"AGENCIES
