Iran Shows Off Its Control Over Strait, Israel Warns Of Further Attacks

DUBAI/CAIRO, April 23 (Reuters) – Iran demonstrated its firm grip on the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday with a video of its commandos attacking a massive cargo ship, after the collapse of peace talks that Washington hoped would open the world’s most important shipping corridor.

Iranian state television broadcast overnight that masked troops approached MSC Francesca in a gray speedboat, climbed a rope ladder to the shell door in the hull, and jumped through the rifles.

The images, presented with action movie-style music and without commentary, also included images of another ship, the Epaminondas. Iran said it captured both of them on Wednesday and accused them of trying to cross the strait without permission.

Following previous reports from Iran’s Mehr news agency that air defense batteries had been activated in the city, it was heard that air defense systems attacked targets defined as “hostile targets” in some parts of Iran’s capital Tehran on Thursday evening.

It was unclear what was targeted, but the reports caused oil prices to soar.

The war, launched by the US and Israel on February 28, was stopped after a ceasefire on April 8, but Israel warned on Thursday that it was ready to restart attacks.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel is waiting for a “green light” from the United States to restart the war, and if so, he said that it would start by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and “return Iran to a dark age.”

“This time the attack will be different and deadly, dealing devastating blows to the most sensitive points,” his office said in a statement.

With the attacks on hold, attention turned to shipping lanes off the Iranian coast.

Tehran said it would not consider opening the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, until the United States lifts Washington’s embargo on Iranian ships during the ceasefire, which Tehran described as a violation of the ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump said in his social media post that Washington is in “total control” of the strait, which he described as “‘Tightly Closed'” until the time Iran can make a DEAL!!!

Trump and his military officials say Iran’s navy is “at the bottom of the sea,” but Tehran’s speedboats show it can still wreak havoc on shipping.

Washington, which has confronted Iranian ships in international waters to enforce its blockade, said it boarded another tanker, the Majestic, in the Indian Ocean on Thursday; this was most recently an apparent reference to a supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil off the coast of Sri Lanka.

U.S. forces have redirected 33 ships since the blockade began, the military said Thursday.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, said commercial ships seized by Iran were “exposed to the law” while Iranian speedboats and maritime drones took shelter in sea caves off an island that prevented the US Navy from approaching.

Deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, Hamidriza Hajibabaei, said that the first income from the toll that Iran currently collects from ships using the strait has been transferred to the central bank. He did not provide further details about who paid and how much.

Trump on Tuesday rescinded threats to resume attacks on Iran in the final hours of the ceasefire. There is no formal extension of the ceasefire and no plans for resuming negotiations have been announced.

The Iranians, who endured six weeks of US and Israeli bombardment before a ceasefire on April 8, described a nerve-wracking environment under threat of a new attack.

“In a situation where there is neither peace nor war, things are a little scary. You think at any moment Israel or the United States could launch an attack,” Arash, 35, a government employee in Tehran, told Reuters by phone.

A Pakistani government source said Pakistan, which hosted talks this month and was preparing for a second round before it was canceled on Tuesday, was still in contact with both sides. The source added that Iranian officials are still refraining from committing to joining the US blockade.

The United States was also scheduled to host a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday; Lebanon was demanding an extension of the ceasefire reached last week in a war running parallel to the Iran war.

Major surveys on Thursday showed the global economy faces more concrete pressures from the energy shock, as factories grapple with rising production costs and activity weakens even in service sectors.

Washington has so far failed to achieve the goals Trump set at the beginning of the war: depriving Iran of the ability to attack its neighbors, ending its nuclear program, and making it easier for its people to overthrow its own government.

Iran maintains a stockpile of highly enriched uranium as well as missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that can hit its neighbors. The rulers, who killed thousands of people to suppress the popular uprising in January, have faced no organized opposition since the beginning of the war.