US President Donald Trump said the United States would be known as the “Guardian of the Hormuz Strait” as tensions with Iran escalate. The United States launched a third night of strikes on Iran as President Donald Trump planned to reimpose a blockade on Tuesday on Iranian ports and floated a 20 percent fee on cargo in the vital Strait of Hormuz. Trump said a deal with the Islamic republic was still possible even as attacks were carried out, with Iran striking two ships in the strategic waterway and killing one crew member, according to the United Arab Emirates.
The US military said its five-hour mission hit targets across Iran including coastal Bushehr and Bandar Abbas to “degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping”. After the strikes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced they had in turn fired missiles and drones on Bahrain, targeting a residential building for US forces and other facilities. “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight, and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow,” Trump said at the White House on Monday.
Trump’s declaration on the Hormuz blockade followed US and Iranian attacks of a scale unseen since an April ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, adding to doubts about efforts to bring a permanent end to the war. Iran started blocking the strait after US-Israel attacks in February, which prompted Washington’s blockade on Tehran’s ports – but restrictions eased after the sides agreed a preliminary deal in June. Trump said Monday that the United States was “taking over” the strait and would slap a levy of 20 percent on all cargo shipped through it, in an announcement that drew mockery from Iran and accusations of “piracy”.
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US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s ports on the waterway would be blockaded from 2000 GMT on Tuesday. Oil prices shot up more than nine percent Monday over fears of renewed conflict and rose again Tuesday, piling on more than one percent. Brent crude oil was trading at $83 per barrel on Tuesday morning. Tehran launched attacks on other US allies in the region, including Jordan, which said it had shot down four missiles from Iran.
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