Hawzah News Agency- Ozmaei noted that these US tactics have pushed the cost of delivering a single barrel of oil to roughly $150, a price he called prohibitive. "We were forced to display images of targeted ships so the Americans would understand just how humiliated and degraded they have become," he stated.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Iranian Army’s Navy announced that a violating oil tanker was damaged and caught fire after it switched off its tracking systems and tried to cross the restricted zone east of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Army said Navy operational units across the eastern Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea are tracking vessel movements and enemy activity in real time under full supervision.
Ozmaei’s remarks come as the US maintains that its forces are securing the passage of oil tankers and commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. The White House has asserted that Washington controls the waterway and guarantees the uninterrupted flow of oil to global markets, while President Donald Trump has declared the strait open and under American control.
Yet, Tuesday’s incident follows a series of tanker fires. On Saturday, Iran’s Navy reported that a vessel struck a naval mine while attempting to transit the strait by an unauthorized route after disabling its navigation and positioning systems. Two days later, the IRGC Navy announced it had targeted a third supertanker that defied Iranian navigation restrictions, warning that any cooperation with US forces would draw a decisive response.
Since the US war on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has effectively halted normal maritime traffic through the strait, with only limited crossings continuing. Iran has tied the return of regular shipping to its conditions on maritime security and implementation of the memorandum of understanding.
On Monday, Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesperson for the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, said Washington has turned to "fuel smuggling" to escape the quagmire it created in West Asia, adding that piracy and smuggling cannot avert its "inevitable defeat." He also urged regional states to abandon the "incapable US security umbrella."
IRGC Commander-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi warned last Thursday that Iranian naval forces will respond decisively to any miscalculation, including unauthorized crossings, calling the strait a strategic red line. Brig. Gen. Ali Fadavi, head of the IRGC commander’s advisory group, said the strait is “definitely under Iran’s control” and that no US ships are present in the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, or the northern Indian Ocean.
Traffic through the strait has dropped to its lowest level in more than two months, according to Kpler.
Source: Al Mayadeen
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