The Strait of Hormuz (Image: Getty)
At least three ships have been fired at in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after Iran warned it would start targeting US vessels. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) approached a ship this morning and shot at it, causing “heavy damage”, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre.
The UKMTO said Iran did not contact the ship beforehand, while Nour News reported that it “ignored warnings”. The incident, 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, was quickly followed by another, in which an “outbound cargo ship” was shot at eight nautical miles west of Iran.
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US ships could become Iranian targets. (Image: Getty)
The UKMTO said the vessel was “now stopped in the water”, and all crew were safe and accounted for. It did not confirm whether Iran was behind this attack.
Maritime security sources added that a third container ship was fired at, also roughly eight nautical miles west of Iran, and had stopped in the water, Reuters reports. Its crew are safe and accounted for, the sources said.
Iran earlier threatened to launch devastating strikes on US ships as peace talks are on the verge of collapse.
An Iranian security official warned that the US seizure of the country’s ships would be a “big gamble” that would make American ships legitimate targets for retaliation.
He told Al Jazeera: “Starting today, all US-owned ships will be legitimate targets of Iran’s asymmetric operations.”
The official added that Washington appears to have engaged in the conflict and subsequent naval blockade without considering the high level of risk associated.
He said Iran has much skill and experience when engaging in conflicts where there’s a significant difference in the military capabilities possessed by each side.
This comes after the US intercepted and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf as part of its naval blockade.
Donald Trump said the Touska was seized on Sunday after failing to respond to a warning to stop, “so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom”.
He wrote on Truth Social: “Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them.
“The TOUSKA is under US Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”
Iran responded by calling the move a violation of the ceasefire, adding that it would retaliate soon for the “act of armed piracy”.
A spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters said the US was in “violation of the ceasefire” when it “opened fire on one of Iran’s commercial vessels in the waters of the Sea of Oman, disabled its navigation system, and boarded it”.
He added: “Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to and retaliate for this act of armed piracy by the US Navy.”
