Iranian officials on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s account of events in the Strait of Hormuz over the preceding 24 hours, saying that the US military attacked two cargo boats and killed at least five civilians amid President Donald Trump’s ploy to force open the critical waterway.
Iran’s state-affiliated media carried comments from an unnamed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander who said that American forces “attacked two small boats carrying people on their way from Khasab on the coast of Oman to the coast of Iran on Monday,” killing five people on board, and that no IRGC vessels were hit. US forces, said the commander, “must be held accountable for their crime.”
The IRGC commander’s version of events was reported hours after the head of the US Central Command told the press that two US-flagged commercial vessels successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz with the help of American forces, which purportedly shot down drones and destroyed six Iranian speedboats that were said to be targeting the ships.
Monday’s exchanges came amid Trump’s newly announced scheme—titled Project Freedom—to “guide” vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has closed in response to the US-Israeli war and the Trump administration’s subsequent blockade of Iran.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a top Iranian negotiator and speaker of the country’s parliament, said in a statement posted online early Tuesday that “the new equation of the Strait of Hormuz is in the process of being solidified.”
“The security of shipping and energy transit has been jeopardized by the United States and its allies through the violation of the ceasefire and the imposition of a blockade; of course, their evil will diminish,” he wrote. “We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet.”
The US military has not yet responded to Iran’s statements on developments in the Strait of Hormuz. Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine are set to hold a press conference on Tuesday morning.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said Tuesday that “events in Hormuz make clear that there’s no military solution to a political crisis.”
“As talks are making progress with Pakistan’s gracious effort, the US should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire by ill-wishers,” Araghchi added. “So should the UAE. Project Freedom is Project Deadlock.”
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