Iran vowed Strait of Hormuz

Tehran (dpa) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said late Thursday they intend to keep the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial chokepoint for the world’s oil supplies, closed to traffic.

The elite force’s command centre said, according to the Fars news agency, that it was following instructions from Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

All tankers and ships operating in the Strait of Hormuz must comply with Iranian regulations for their own safety, it added.

The Guards also said they would continue their attacks “with full force” against targets belonging to the United States and Israel in the region.

Shipping through the strait, a roughly 55-kilometre-wide waterway between Iran and Oman, has virtually collapsed due to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels, with multiple ships being hit in recent days.

The inability to move oil through the strait is causing severe volatility on the global energy market and raising prices of oil and petrol.