Iran, US make competing claims over control of Strait of Hormuz

• Iran claims full control and management of the Strait of Hormuz, rejecting US assertions of dominance.
• The US and Iran have a tense history over the strait, including war, blockades, an interim ceasefire and resumed attacks.
• Iran warns it will respond more aggressively in future conflicts and insists reopening the strait depends on US compliance with agreements.

DUBAI - The Strait of Hormuz is “under Iran’s control and management”, the recently appointed head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary unit said on Aug 13, a day after President Donald Trump said the United States had “total control” of the strategic waterway.

Hossein Taeb said the US had sought to disrupt what he described as the Islamic Republic’s popularity in the region by launching another war in the Strait of Hormuz, but had once more been defeated despite claiming Iran had neither an air force nor a navy.

“Today, you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic Republic,” Taeb said according to the semi-official Fars news, adding that Iran was continuing on its course in complete security.

After the start of the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb 28, Tehran effectively shut the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas was previously shipped.

The US subsequently imposed a naval blockade on Iranian shipping and ports, while saying it would protect freedom of navigation for vessels travelling to and from non-Iranian ports.

Iran’s joint military command, ​Khatam al-Anbiya Central ‌Headquarters, said later on Aug 13 that no vessel could transit the Strait of Hormuz without Tehran’s permission.

“The baseless claims made by the United States regarding the normal passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz... are nothing more than lies and falsehoods,” the command said in a statement published by state media.

In June, the two countries reached an interim agreement declaring a permanent ceasefire and calling for a swift return to freedom of navigation in the Gulf.

The deal unravelled a few weeks later after Iran resumed limited attacks on vessels that it said were sailing contrary to the arrangements under the agreement, prompting the US to restart strikes on Iran’s southern provinces, which Washington said were aimed at degrading Tehran’s ability to target vessels in the Gulf.

Separately, on Aug 13, senior military political official Rasoul Sanaei-Rad said that Iran would not reopen the Strait unless the other side fulfilled its commitments under the interim deal, adding that the reopening of the waterway was not something the US can achieve unilaterally, according to Fars news.

Sanaei-Rad also warned that Iran would respond more forcefully in any future conflict, saying: “In a possible future war, we will stand more firmly and more offensively.” REUTERS