Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they had struck a US tanker in the northern part of the Gulf, with the vessel on fire, and declared that passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be under Iranian control for the duration of the war.
“In time of war, passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be under the control of the Islamic Republic,” the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian state media.
There was no immediate confirmation of the tanker strike. Iran had made a similar claim earlier in the week, which also went unconfirmed at the time.
The declaration over the Strait of Hormuz is significant escalation, threatening to choke a waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supplies transit daily.
The United States had earlier this week announced it was drawing up plans to secure the strait and ensure safe passage for oil tankers amid the conflict.
(Reuters)
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