ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Wednesday it would soon block passage through what it described as “illegal” routes in the Strait of Hormuz, as tensions over commercial shipping continue to escalate in regional waters.
Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior advisor to the IRGC's commander-in-chief, said the strategic waterway “is closed, and the [Iranian] armed forces have complete control over it.This situation will continue until Iran's legitimate demands are met," he added, according to the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency.
The senior IRGC official said the volume of oil “smuggled” through the Strait was negligible, but alleged that some individuals were using small vessels to transfer oil to tankers. “Soon, the few routes created by offenders through blasting and destroying certain rocky passages in the Strait of Hormuz will be blocked,” he said.
Naqdi's remarks come as Washington maintains a naval blockade on Iranian ports and amid a sharp deterioration in maritime security in the Strait, where commercial vessels have faced repeated attacks and threats since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington had established a “wall of steel” around Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Not one ship has gotten through to Iran. The only ships that go through are the ones that we let go through,” Trump said. “And it's had a huge impact. That's why their nations failed financially. They're a failed nation.”
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center has reported at least nine incidents since the beginning of October, including attacks that sparked fires and incidents involving crude oil tankers. Forty-eight projectile strikes have been recorded since early July, the monitor added, noting that 31 of them were reported along the southern route near Oman and that 25 had damaged vessels' engine rooms.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies passed before the war, has become a major flashpoint as Iran and the United States each seek to enforce competing restrictions on maritime traffic.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Monday that its forces had redirected their 130th commercial vessel in the region as part of Washington's blockade of Iranian ports. CENTCOM also said 13 commercial vessels had been destroyed and three disabled.
