Fresh strikes deepen Hormuz deadlock
Iran launched fresh attacks against US targets in the Middle East on Wednesday in retaliation for American strikes on Iranian oil tankers, dragging the foes deeper into war.
Tehran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they attacked 20 US vessels trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world’s oil and gas that Iran has largely controlled since the war erupted.
The United States and Iran are locked in a stalemate six months into the war, with Iran maintaining a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz and Washington pushing a campaign to choke Iran’s ports and economy.
The Guards said on Wednesday they pummeled a US military base in Jordan in response to US forces destroying five Iranian oil tankers the day before.
The US military said it acted after Iran targeted an American warship, the second such attack in less than a week.
Oil prices climbed to near $100 a barrel in Asian morning trade, as the flare-up threatened to further choke supply from the crude-rich Middle East.
‘Punitive operation’
The Islamic republic also said it would target oil tankers off US-allied Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for the United States strikes on its tankers.
Minutes later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards—the most powerful arm of the Iranian military—said they had struck the US air base of Al-Azraq in Jordan with missiles, state media reported.
The “punitive operation” damaged maintenance and repair facilities, deployment locations, and shelters for fighter jets, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (Irna).
Jordan’s army said it shot down 18 missiles from Iran targeting the kingdom.
The strikes came after Tehran urged crews on oil tankers off Kuwait and Bahrain to leave their vessels, warning they “will be targeted,” the Guards said in a statement posted on Irna.
The latest round of fighting was triggered after US forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers, with the US military saying it “directed the crews to abandon ship” before hitting the vessels.
Iran has asserted control of the Strait of Hormuz—which normally carries around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas—since the start of the war in February, with traffic through the waterway virtually paralyzed.
Tehran requires vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the strait.
Iran’s Guards also said on Tuesday they seized “one of the most modern, unmanned” American submarine drone in the Strait of Hormuz.
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