Iran's IRGC declares Strait of Hormuz 'closed' as gunmen fire on tanker off Yemen's Al Mukalla

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy on Saturday declared the Strait of Hormuz “closed”, warning that passage of ships “of various nationalities” through the waterway is prohibited, according to the IRGC statement carried by state media and reported by Al Jazeera’s live coverage.

The declaration came as maritime agencies logged a fifth tanker attack in the week’s deadliest spate of maritime violence: the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said gunmen in a small boat fired on a tanker off the coast of Al Mukalla, Yemen, around 140 nautical miles to the southeast. The vessel’s armed security team fired two warning shots, the boat withdrew, and there were no casualties, UKMTO reported. Separately, UKMTO said one tanker had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from a small boat.

Four tankers have been reported hit since Friday, Al Jazeera’s summary noted, including two supertankers the IRGC says were struck by naval mines on Saturday.

The US military contested Iran’s claims of dominance in the strait. US Central Command spokesperson Tim Hawkins told Fox News that the “vast majority” of Iranian attacks on vessels had been “unsuccessful”, with 97% of vessels that attempted the strait doing so “successfully without being hit by an Iranian projectile”. Hawkins called the IRGC’s attacks “unjustified” and said Iran was “not achieving their objective of closing the Strait of Hormuz”.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed four drones over the Riyadh, Eastern and Southern provinces. At an OIC foreign ministers’ meeting in Baghdad, the organisation’s secretary-general condemned what he called “sinful attacks” against Saudi Arabia as a flagrant violation of its sovereignty.

Sources: Al Jazeera liveblog; Times Now (with AP/Reuters inputs); Palestine Chronicle (UKMTO advisory via Anadolu); Tribune India (ANI, UKMTO details on Al Mukalla incident).