The US military has denied a claim made in Iranian state media that Iran has hit an American warship trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz.
It comes hours after Donald Trump said the US would help stranded ships out of the waterway.
“This is a serious warning from the naval forces of the IRGC. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed,” Iranian media had published an audio message said to be from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iranian state media put out reports that Iran had prevented a US Navy destroyer from entering the Strait of Hormuz.
The reports included a claim from the Iranian military that it hit an American ship with two missiles, near Bandar-e-Jask on the Iranian coast
US news outlet Axios then cited an unnamed senior US official as denying that a US ship had been hit
Soon after, US Central Command (Centcom) put out a statement, echoing this denial.
It said no US ships had been struck and that US forces were supporting the operation “and enforcing the naval blockade on Iranian ports.”
The United Arab Emirates says a tanker affiliated with Adnoc, its state-owned oil company, has been hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
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No one has been injured, the country’s foreign ministry says in a statement, adding:
“This attack constitutes a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolution 2817, which affirmed the importance of freedom of navigation and rejected the targeting of commercial vessels or the obstruction of international maritime routes.
“Targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, and constitutes a direct threat to the stability of the region, its peoples, and global energy security,” the UAE said.
The UAE called for Iran to stop the attack and “ensure its full commitment to an immediate cessation of all hostilities, and the complete and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.”
An estimated 20,000 seafarers on 2,000 ships have been stuck in the strait since the US-Iran war began in February.
Trump’s “Project Freedom” could become a dangerous flashpoint after almost four weeks of the US-Iran ceasefire.
