Iran condemns US attacks on its vessels and warns of harsher retaliation

Iran has condemned US attacks on three of its oil tankers and warned that any repeat strikes would bring a harsher response against American vessels in the region.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the United States had attacked Iranian merchant ships in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It called the action a violation of the United Nations Charter and a “war crime.” The ministry said responsibility for the consequences of continued US actions would fall on Washington and its “accomplices and partners.”

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We strongly condemn the attacks against Iranian merchant ships in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a lieutenant colonel and spokesman for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Unified Operations Command, issued a further warning. He said Iran’s attacks on US military vessels would intensify, and could expand, if attacks and interference against Iranian ships continued alongside the maritime blockade of Iran.

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The responsibility for the consequences of the continuation of the aggressive and interventionist actions of the United States in the region will fall on the American regime and its accomplices and partners.

The US military said it attacked the three tankers after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two American Navy warships patrolling regional waters. US Central Command said an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple Iranian attacks, and that no US personnel were injured.

The strikes followed the heaviest US attacks against Iran in more than a month, carried out earlier in the week and reported to have killed 19 people, including four at a wedding. Iran responded with bombardments in Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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If provocations and interference against Iranian vessels continue, along with the maritime blockade of Iran, Iran’s attacks against US military vessels in the region will intensify, and there is a possibility that these attacks will expand.

Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz since the war began on Feb. 28, using the passage as its main pressure tool. The blockade has halted almost all oil exports, requires ships seeking to pass through to obtain Iranian permission and targets vessels attempting to evade it. The United States has established a cordon around Iranian ports and ships, and experts in oil and the Middle East say some maritime traffic has been restored along a southern route near Oman.

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Successfully evaded multiple Iranian attacks.