TEHRAN — The Iranian Revolutionary Guards threatened on Saturday to attack “US sites in the region” and “enemy ships” in case of aggression against their oil tankers, Iranian media reported.
“Any attack against Iranian oil tankers and commercial vessels will provoke a harsh response against one of the American centers in the region, as well as against enemy ships,” declared the commander of the navy of the Revolutionary Guards, Tehran’s ideological army, according to public television Irib and the Isna agency.
These threats come the day after attacks by the US military against two Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
US President Donald Trump had declared on Friday that he expected a response from the Iranians in the evening to a proposal aimed at putting a lasting end to hostilities.
“I should receive a letter tonight, so we’ll see how it all plays out,” he told reporters.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai, quoted by state television, had indicated that Iran was “continuing to study” the US proposal.
Clashes at sea
On Friday, the US military announced that it had “neutralized” two Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, the gateway to the Strait of Hormuz.
Although according to the army, the ships were not transporting cargo, images released by the US military command for the region (Centcom) show thick columns of smoke coming from the command bridges.
Iran, in turn, denounced to the UN a “flagrant violation” of the truce concluded a month earlier.
A military source cited by the Tasnim agency stated that Iranian forces had responded.
“After a period of exchange of fire, the clashes ceased for the moment and calm returned,” he said.
Since the outbreak of war on February 28, Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, to which the United States responded by imposing a blockade on Iranian ports.
The war caused thousands of deaths, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and shakes the world economy.
British destroyer to Middle East
The United Kingdom announced that it is going to “preposition in the Middle East” a destroyer, the HMS Dragon, currently in the Mediterranean, with a view to a future international maritime transport protection mission in the Strait of Hormuz.
In mid-April, dozens of countries not involved in the war and led by the United Kingdom and France said they were willing to deploy a “neutral mission” to guarantee safe passage through this strait, blocked by Iran, but to date they have refused to collaborate with the United States.
