Iran has warned that all energy exports from the Middle East could be halted after the United States restored a blockade on Iranian ports and vessels, deepening a fast-moving confrontation that has already disrupted shipping and pushed oil prices higher. The warning came as the US and Iran continued trading strikes for a fifth day, with Donald Trump also threatening to target a site connected to Iran’s nuclear programme.
According to the report, the renewed US blockade took effect early on Wednesday and was followed by a 90-minute series of American strikes on Iran’s coastal defence systems and missile positions. Iranian officials said the previous day’s US attacks had killed at least seven troops and injured more than 300 people, which they described as the highest casualty toll in the latest round of violence. Fatemeh Mohajerani, the Iranian government spokesperson, said at least 30 civilians had been killed in southern Iran in recent days.
Trump said the US could expand its campaign to force open the Strait of Hormuz, warning in an interview that Washington would strike “Pickaxe Mountain,” a fortified underground facility linked to Iran’s disputed nuclear programme. In response, Iran shut the strait and launched retaliatory airstrikes on countries in the region that host US bases. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said regional energy exports should be “shared by all or denied to all,” and said the strait would remain closed until the “end of America’s evils.”
The closure threatens a key global shipping route that, before the conflict, handled about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the new US blockade had effectively undone the Islamabad memorandum, the interim agreement intended to keep the waterway open while negotiations continued. The unrest has also driven more shipping companies to avoid the strait, while the price of crude continued rising on Wednesday after reaching a one-month high the day before.
Source: theguardian.com
