Iran’s military has vowed to respond after a US destroyer on
Sunday fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to
evade a US naval blockade.
“We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of
Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy and the US
military,” said a spokesperson for the military’s central command centre,
Khatam Al-Anbiya, cited by ISNA news agency.
He accused the United States of having “violated the
ceasefire” that has been in place since April 8.
US President Donald Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social that
after the Iranian vessel, Touska, ignored warnings to stop, the guided missile
destroyer USS Spruance “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in
the engineroom”.
“Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel,” the US
president added, “and are seeing what’s on board!”
The incident comes with tensions high in the Strait of
Hormuz, a vital conduit for the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, which
has been virtually closed since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran seven
weeks ago.
Iran briefly reopened the strait on Friday in recognition of
an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire in Lebanon, but closed it again the following day
in response to the United States maintaining its blockade on ships travelling
to and from Iranian ports.
In an earlier post on Sunday, Trump accused Tehran of
violating the ceasefire, which expires Wednesday, by launching attacks on
Saturday in the vital shipping lane.
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