Iran warns it will attack US forces in Hormuz after Trump announces escort plan
"We warn that any foreign armed force - especially the aggressive US military - if they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be targeted and attacked," said Iran's military.
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TEHRAN: Iran's military warned on Monday (May 4) that US forces would be attacked if they entered the Strait of Hormuz, after President Donald Trump said the United States would begin escorting ships through the waterway.
Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran took effect on Apr 8, with Tehran's stranglehold on the strait a main point of contention.
Trump said on Sunday that the new maritime operation, which he dubbed "Project Freedom", was a "humanitarian" gesture for crews aboard the many ships swept up in the blockade who may be running low on food and other supplies.
"We will use best efforts to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait. In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation," Trump said in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.
Oil prices dropped more than US$1 a barrel after Trump's announcement.
Brent crude futures fell to US$106.34 by 10.03pm GMT (Monday 6.03am, Singapore time), and US West Texas Intermediate was at US$100.22 a barrel.
In response, the Iranian military's central command said any safe passage through Hormuz must be coordinated with its forces "under all circumstances".
"We warn that any foreign armed force - especially the aggressive US military - if they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be targeted and attacked," said Major General Ali Abdollahi in a statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB.
Earlier, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, told state television that Tehran had submitted a 14-point plan "focused on ending the war", and that Washington had already responded to it in a message to Pakistani mediators.
By blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has choked off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
"I am fully aware that my Representatives are having very positive discussions with the Country of Iran, and that these discussions could lead to something very positive for all," Trump said in his post.
But he made no direct mention of a 14-point plan that Tehran said it put forward last week to end the war.
The United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb 28, killing the Islamic Republic's supreme leader. Tehran responded with strikes on US military bases and Israeli targets in the region.
A ceasefire came into effect Apr 8, and there has been one round of direct peace talks in Islamabad since, with the two countries deadlocked.
Trump said "countries from all over the world" had requested American aid in navigating through the key waterway and out of the Gulf.
"For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business," Trump said.
Trump offered few details on how the mission would work. But an operation to guide ships out of the narrow strait could put US service members precariously close to Iranian forces.
US Central Command said it would use guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms and 15,000 service members in the Hormuz effort.
"Our support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade," Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in the post.
As of Apr 29, more than 900 commercial vessels were located in the Gulf, according to maritime intelligence firm AXSMarine. There had been more than 1,100 at the start of the conflict.
"IMPOSSIBLE OPERATION"
US news website Axios, citing two sources briefed on the Iranian proposal, reported that Tehran set "a one-month deadline for negotiations on a deal to reopen the strait", lift the US naval blockade and end the war.
On Sunday, the Revolutionary Guards sought to put the onus back on Trump, saying he must choose between "an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran".
Washington's European allies are concerned that the longer the strait remains closed, the more their economies will suffer, and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul demanded that it be reopened.
In a call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, Wadephul stressed that Germany supported a negotiated solution but that "Iran must completely and verifiably renounce nuclear weapons and immediately open the Strait of Hormuz".
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, who has tried to coordinate a post-war mission to the strait alongside Britain and an international coalition, called for "a coordinated reopening by the United States and Iran".
"That is the only solution for reopening", he said.
Oil prices are currently about 50 per cent above pre-conflict levels, largely due to the supply snarls in the strait.
"SUFFOCATING THE REGIME"
he US president, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, declined on Sunday to specify what could trigger new US military action.
But in his post, he said that "if in any way, this Humanitarian (ship-guiding) process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully".
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US naval blockade was only part of a broader economic embargo.
"We are suffocating the regime, and they are not able to pay their soldiers. This is a real economic blockade, and it is in all parts of government," he told Fox News.
Trump's plan for the US to escort ships through the Strait is "another pressure tactic" to engage the Iranians and "force them to continue negotiating", said Jamsheed Choksy, a distinguished professor at Indiana University Bloomington.
"As the US Navy moves through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians have a choice to continue negotiating or to fire on US ships. If they do, then they would be the ones re-triggering the war. If they choose the diplomatic path, then the negotiations will hopefully continue," he told CNA's Asia First programme.
Choksy called it a "dangerous space" where any confrontation could derail US-Iran negotiations, with the Americans betting on Tehran's interest to drag out talks as long as possible in order to rearm and reestablish financial stability.
"I think what the United States is gambling is that the Iranians will no longer try to intercept commercial cargo passing through the Gulf," he noted.
Should the US go ahead and escort ships through the Strait, the priority would likely be oil tankers from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations to facilitate energy resupply, Choksy added.
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