US President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that Iran was “collapsing financially” over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as three ships have been attacked in the very important waterway that’s blockaded by each the US and the Islamic Republic.
Trump’s feedback got here hours after he announced he was indefinitely extending the two-week ceasefire with Iran, which had been conditioned on Iran lifting its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran final week briefly lifted its blockade following the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, however reversed course after the US mentioned it could preserve the blockade it had imposed on Iran-linked delivery on April 13, 5 days into the truce.
“Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, including that the Islamic Republic is “starving for cash” and “losing 500 Million Dollars a day.”
“Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid,” Trump claimed, including: “SOS!!!”
US Treasury Scott Bessent additionally mentioned on X that the US blockade “directly targets the regime’s primary revenue lifelines” by constraining maritime commerce.
“Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in,” mentioned Bessent, referring to the Iranian delivery hub that the US has focused in the course of the battle with Iran and thru which 90 p.c of Tehran’s oil exports go.
In line with earlier statements about financial strain efforts, Bessent additionally mentioned Iranian funds will stay frozen and any individual or vessel facilitating the movement of funds to Iran will threat US sanctions.
However, Iran’s Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri claimed Tuesday that the US naval blockade had had little impression on Iran’s skill to produce fundamental items and meals, citing sturdy home manufacturing and different import routes.
“Despite the US naval blockade, we have no problem in supplying basic goods and food because, due to the size of the country, it is possible to import from different borders,” he mentioned, in feedback quoted by Iran’s official IRNA information company.
“About 85 percent of agricultural products and basic goods are produced domestically, so the country’s food security is established,” mentioned Nouri.
Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, by way of which some 20% of world oil delivery passes in peacetime, has triggered a pointy rise in vitality costs around the globe.
Iran choked off delivery in the strait, and launched missile and drone assaults throughout the area, after the US and Israel launched a bombing marketing campaign in the Islamic Republic on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear applications.
Although the US targeted a lot of its hearth in the battle on Iran’s navy, sinking and closely damaging dozens of vessels, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operates a fleet of small assault boats, a few of which apparently survived the battle.
Those vessels usually carry mounted machine weapons, and can be utilized for mining operations.
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) mentioned it acquired a report of an incident 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, the place the grasp of a container ship reported being approached by an IRGC gunboat.
The vessel was subsequently fired upon, sustaining heavy harm to its bridge, although no fires or environmental impression have been reported and all crew members have been secure.
According to British maritime safety agency Vanguard Tech, the vessel was crusing below a Liberian flag and “had been informed it had permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz.”
Nour News, a web site affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, additionally mentioned the ship sustained “extensive damage,” and that the IRGC opened fired on it in the Strait of Hormuz after it “ignored the warnings of the Iranian armed forces.”
The IRGC later vowed in an announcement to “deliver crushing blows beyond the enemy’s imagination to its remaining assets in the region.”
The Guard “remains at peak readiness and determination to continue the fight, prepared for a decisive, certain and immediate response to any threat or renewed aggression,” the assertion added.
In a separate incident, a cargo ship eight nautical miles west of Iran was fired upon and stopped in the water. It was unclear who had focused this ship.
“A master of an outbound cargo ship reports having been fired upon and is now stopped in the water. Crew are safe and accounted for. There is no reported damage to the vessel,” UKMTO mentioned.
Vanguard recognized it as the Panama-flagged containership Euphoria, which it mentioned was “transiting outbound of the Strait of Hormuz.”
“It remains unclear whether she has resumed transiting,” the agency mentioned.
Marine Traffic confirmed that the ship was headed from the Jebel Ali port in the UAE to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Maritime safety sources mentioned {that a} third container ship was fired upon about eight nautical miles west of Iran whereas transiting outbound of the Strait of Hormuz. The Liberia-flagged vessel, which was not broken, had stopped in the water. Its crew are secure, the sources mentioned.
Iran judiciary says man put to demise for working with Mossad
The Islamic Republic judiciary’s Mizan information outlet mentioned Wednesday that Iran executed a person convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, the most recent in a string of executions amid the battle with the US and Israel.
Mizan recognized the person as Mehdi Farid, saying he had held a place in a civil protection unit inside a delicate group and had used his entry to collect and transmit data to the Mossad.
His demise sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court and carried out after authorized procedures have been accomplished, Mizan mentioned.
Iran is the world’s second most prolific executioner after China, in keeping with rights teams primarily based outdoors the nation.
Earlier this month, Iran’s hardline judiciary chief urged courts to hurry up verdicts linked to the US-Israeli battle, together with capital punishment, as activists sounded the alarm about surging hangings of convicts seen as political prisoners.
Most of these executed are younger males, together with teenagers, alleged to have been both concerned in the nationwide protests in January that have been brutally suppressed by the regime — with 1000’s shot lifeless in the streets — or members of banned opposition teams.
Amnesty International has mentioned that these executions have proven the judiciary to be “a tool of repression sending individuals to the gallows to spread fear and exacting revenge on those demanding fundamental political change.”
