THE NAVAL forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said yesterday they had struck four vessels transferring oil in the northern Persian Gulf, and warned that US bases would be targeted if Washington kept pushing ships through unauthorised routes in the Strait of Hormuz.
The four vessels were hit simultaneously and left burning, the IRGC Navy said.
Three more struck mines west of the strait on Wednesday night, caught fire and were stopped.
‘The aggressor US military must know that, if this trend continues, the scope of confrontation will extend to the aggressor bases in the region.
‘This is a serious warning,’ the force said, accusing Washington of steering ships into mined waters.
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told the US outlet Drop Site News that Iran had held back.
‘We did not deploy all our capabilities in the previous stages,’ he said. ‘We brought more capabilities into operation in proportion to the intensity of the war, and we are also prepared for the next stage.’
He warned states joining economic warfare against Iran: ‘There can be no arrangement in which Iran’s economic lifelines come under attack while the economic architecture enabling those attacks is considered untouched and immune.’
Tehran will neither reopen the strait nor return to talks until seven conditions sent to Washington through intermediaries are met, he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei answered Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who claimed on Tuesday that Iran’s leaders are controlled by ‘radical Shia clerics’.
‘Faith does not preclude “rationality”, just as secularism does not guarantee wisdom,’ he wrote.
‘And above all, instead of accusing others, address your own record of broken promises.’
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on Wednesday that ‘Iran is prepared to give diplomacy another chance if we see strong evidence of a sincere desire’ to end the war, but asked: ‘How can we trust a US president again?’
President Donald Trump denied any talks were under way and said the situation would end ‘fairly soon’.
