IRGC says it struck three tankers in Hormuz, three US-linked ships in retaliation
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Tehran: The naval arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday it had targeted three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and three US-affiliated vessels in other areas in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian tankers earlier in the day.
In a statement carried by the IRGC’s official Sepah News outlet, the navy said the three tankers hit in the strait were transiting via an “unauthorised” route, while the other three vessels were struck in separate regions. It warned all ships in the Gulf and near Hormuz against being “deceived” by the US military or attempting to use unauthorised routes, saying such vessels would be targeted, Xinhua reported.
Earlier, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB said three Iranian oil tankers had been attacked by US forces off the country’s southern coast. In response, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran’s main military command, cautioned Washington against continuing assaults on Iranian ships or maintaining a naval blockade.
“If the malice and insecurity against and harassment of Iranian ships, as well as the anti-Iran naval blockade continue, the strikes by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran against US military vessels in the region will become more severe than before, and there is a possibility of their expansion,” Zolfaghari said in remarks carried by Iranian media.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, told reporters at the White House on Friday that American forces might soon strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified underground site near the Natanz enrichment facility that Washington says houses part of Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. “We may hit Pickaxe very soon,” Trump said, while describing the broader confrontation as “small potatoes” and an intermittent “military conflict” rather than a war, despite having at times referred to it as a war.
Since US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, Tehran has restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, barring vessels linked to the United States or Israel, while US forces have imposed a naval blockade targeting ships travelling to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.
(Inputs from IANS)