Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatens to attack any ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened this Monday to attack any ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz after stating that transit is cut off in retaliation for the attacks by the United States and Israel against Iranian territory.

“Our devoted heroes of the Navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will decisively confront any offending vessel and will not allow oil to be exported from the area,” warned Brigadier General Ebrahim Yabari, advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In the same way, he stated that “oil pipelines are also within reach” of Tehran. “We will not allow the energy resources of the region to fall into the hands of the enemy,” he argued, adding that the United States must know that “not a drop of oil” will reach them, as reported by the Tasnim news agency.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, had assured on Sunday that his country had not at any time undertaken an operation to close the Strait of Hormuz, an artery of global maritime trade, nor did it plan to do anything to prevent a passage that was already suspended in the context of the attacks.

During the day on Saturday, several ships reported receiving transmissions from the Iranian Navy alluding to the fact that transit through the strait was prohibited. However, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said there was no official veto on the passage because radio broadcasts are not a legal avenue for it.

According to UKMTO, two merchant ships were hit by projectiles over the weekend while transiting the strait, including the oil tanker ‘Skylight’, which is on the US sanctions list for the export of Iranian oil.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard confirmed this Monday an attack carried out by its forces against an oil tanker supposedly linked to the United States – identified as ‘Athe Nova’, flying the Honduran flag – in the Strait of Hormuz.

For the closure to be official and legally valid, it must be announced by the competent State, that is, the Government of Iran, although all ships have the right to continuous and uninterrupted transit under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).