Iran touts military response as US maintains blockade, hits tankers

Tehran, Iran – The United States continues to rely on a mix of military force and economic sanctions against Iran, which has so far only prompted authorities in Tehran to consider more forceful responses.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) released video on Saturday showing three Iranian crude oil tankers being hit – one off Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, another near Jask and a third in the Gulf of Oman. Two were “permanently disabled”, while a third sank after extensive bombing, CENTCOM said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later aired video of its own, showing explosives-laden projectiles crashing into multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Aggressor US must know that it has no way but to leave the region and stop its malignance,” the IRGC said in a statement on Sunday. It added that a US-built sea drone was hit while trying to enter Iranian waters in the vital waterway, through which one fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes in peacetime.

The IRGC also said on Sunday it had fired several ballistic missiles towards a US aircraft carrier and another warship that are part of the network of vessels imposing the months-long naval blockade of Iran’s southern ports. Both vessels sustained some damage and fled, said the IRGC, although there was no immediate evidence of a successful hit and CENTCOM said the attacks were “evaded”.

The IRGC said it considered the acknowledgement by the US that missiles were launched towards its warships as “live evidence of the enemy’s strategic defeat and proof” of the force’s “offensive capabilities”.

Speaking during a private meeting of parliament members on Sunday, Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran has inflicted “significant blows” to US bases across the region to the “frustration” of leaders in Washington.

“The Americans have surely understood that the era of proportionate responses has come to an end and our recent strikes against aggressor bases was only a start,” said Ghalibaf, who is also Iran’s chief negotiator with the US.