Tehran, May 4, (dpa/GNA) – Iran’s military leadership has threatened attacks, following the US announcement that it would help get vessels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz out of the waterway, the Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.
“We warn that any foreign force, in particular the aggressive US army, will be attacked should it intend to approach the Strait of Hormuz and enter it,” said Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, commander of the central military leadership.
Freighters seeking to pass through the strait would have to coordinate this with Iranian forces, he added.
Aliabadi is the de facto chief of the general staff in Iran. He heads the Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, which in the event of war, consolidates the operational command of Iran’s armed forces.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform the operation “Project Freedom,” which he said would help ships stuck in the key waterway to exit it “so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”
The operation is set to begin on Monday, Trump said, without offering details on how this would be accomplished.
Early on Monday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), said a ship has been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.
A tanker reported being hit by “unknown projectiles” on Sunday evening in the waterway, around 145 kilometres north of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, UKMTO said on X.
The crew were safe, and no environmental impact had been reported, UKMTO added. Just hours earlier, the agency said a cargo ship in the strait had come under attack by several small boats.
The head of the security commission in Iran’s parliament, Ebrahim Azizi, also spoke out against US interference in the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf would not be managed by US President Donald Trump’s “delusional posts,” he added.
There have been repeated attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Iran war. Before the war, tankers carried around a fifth of the world’s traded oil and liquefied natural gas through the waterway.
Following the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, Tehran largely brought shipping to a standstill through threats and attacks. The US has also imposed a naval blockade on Iran.
A ceasefire is currently in place in the conflit, but talks on a lasting settlement and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz have so far failed to produce a breakthrough.
GNA