Iran said it has used a new anti-ship missile against the US Navy in the Persian Gulf and warned Washington that its naval blockade of the key waterway is not foolproof.
In an interview on Sunday evening with state broadcaster, the secretary-general of the National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaee, spoke of the first use of a new type of anti-ship cruise missile.
“This is an important warning to the enemy and means that the naval blockade is vulnerable,” the general said.
The US military said it attacked three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday and put them out of action. Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired ballistic missiles at two US warships, according to CENTCOM, the US regional command.
In the interview, Rezaee rejected the US account that the Strait of Hormuz was open again for international shipping.
“The Strait of Hormuz is completely closed and the US claim that ships and oil tankers are passing through it is a lie,” he said. Ships that tried to pass through the strait with navigation switched off were mostly attacked. Iran’s armed forces had, for the time being, decided not to sink these ships “for environmental protection reasons,” he added.
Over the course of the war, the Strait of Hormuz has become the central point of contention between Washington and Tehran.
Iran is still largely blocking traffic through the strait, which is globally important for the transport of oil, natural gas and fertilizer, with threats and attacks on ships.
Before the war, the strait was open to shipping. The US wants to put pressure on Iran with a naval blockade against Iranian ports. US President Trump had most recently threatened the country with an “economic war.”