Iran threatens greater force if US launches more attacks — A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft approaches the boom of a US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft in the US Central Command area of responsibility. Photo / USAF, AFP
Iran’s top negotiator has threatened a more forceful response to any further US attacks after Tehran targeted American warships in their latest round of clashes.
The exchanges of fire, which began with US raids last week, come amid a deadlock in the six-month war between the two countries.
Iran has
maintained its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz while Washington continues a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
Washington is also seeking to choke Iran’s economy, rolling out sanctions on entities with financial links to the Islamic Republic in a bid to force it into submission.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has acted as chief negotiator in talks to end the war, said that “the era of proportionate responses has come to an end”.
“Any aggression against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response,” he added, in a speech carried by state media.
Tehran’s top security chief, meanwhile, said Iran would establish a “prohibited zone” near the Strait of Hormuz in coming days.
“This zone will start from the US Navy’s blockade line and include areas of the Persian Gulf. Any ship entering this new zone will be placed on the sanctions list” of Iran, Mohsen Rezaei told state TV.
US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees American military operations in the region, said Iran had unsuccessfully fired at two American warships – an aircraft carrier and a destroyer.
In response, the US struck three oil tankers it said were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Video posted by the military showed large fireballs and billowing flames after projectiles slammed into the ships.
The three vessels were “part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies”, Centcom said.
Iran quickly retaliated, with the IRGC saying their naval forces “targeted three oil tankers on the unauthorised route of the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels affiliated with the child-killing America in other areas”.
It warned ships not to attempt to transit the key trade waterway via routes not approved by Tehran.