Iran will announce a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days and impose sanctions on ships that attempt to pass through the area without coordinating with Tehran, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei said.
In an interview with state-run IRIB TV aired Sunday night, Rezaei said the zone would stretch from the point where the US naval blockade begins toward the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf on the opposite side of the waterway.
He said vessels entering the zone without prior coordination with Iran could face sanctions that would affect their insurance coverage and their ability to use the waterway in the future.
Rezaei described the planned move as part of a wider change in Iran’s military and diplomatic strategy aimed at putting greater pressure on Washington.
He also rejected US claims that ships and oil tankers are continuing to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that the strategic waterway is completely closed.
According to Rezaei, some vessels have attempted to cross through a route near Oman, sometimes turning off their navigation systems to avoid detection. He claimed that most of those ships “receive blows.”
However, he said Iran does not currently plan to sink the vessels because of concerns over possible environmental damage.
Rezaei also said Iran had test-fired a domestically developed anti-destroyer missile over a US aircraft carrier for the first time about 48 hours earlier. He described the test as a warning that the US naval blockade could be challenged.
“The special missile created a hell for the Americans, and they fled,” he said.
Rezaei said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the United States takes practical measures to meet its commitments under a peace memorandum of understanding signed by Tehran and Washington in June.
He added that Iran and Oman would announce a new international corridor for ships seeking to pass through the strait in the coming days. The corridor, he said, would be managed by Iran.
The latest restrictions followed US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran subsequently limited passage through the Strait of Hormuz, while US forces imposed a naval blockade targeting vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports and coastal waters.