Iran was quick to shut down Donald Trump’s declaration that the Strait of Hormuz is now officially open.
Just two oil tankers managed to slide through the disputed region during a tense-as-it-was-short ceasefire agreement, in response to Iranian state media.
The Strait was shut again after Iranian Naval officials accused Israel of launching a strike against Lebanon.
A source within the Iranian Navy confirmed the Strait’s closure, telling state broadcaster PressTV ‘Now we have closed the Strait of Hormuz, and currently, only Iranian ships and vessels coming from Iran are passing through.
‘Only two oil tankers were capable of profit from the ceasefire and go through the Strait of Hormuz before ‘Israel’ violated the agreement,’ he added.
One other senior Iranian official insisted that ‘Iran will punish Israel for its aggression against Lebanon and violations of the ceasefire.’
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A minimum of 112 people were killed in Israeli strikes over Lebanon after the ceasefire agreement, their health ministry has claimed.
The newest count for Wednesday includes widespread strikes across central Beirut that got here without notice, also wounding a minimum of 837, certainly one of the deadliest days on this latest war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. It shouldn’t be the ultimate count.
Ibrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in a post on X: ‘In response to the brutal Israeli aggression on Lebanon, the movement of ships within the Strait of Hormuz should be immediately stopped, and a powerful, decisive strike should be launched to prevent further attacks by the Israeli entity.’
The Iranian official paid tribute to the Lebanese people, asserting that “we must not leave them alone for a second.’
Rezaei emphasised the necessity for clarity on the terms of engagement stating, ‘Either there may be a ceasefire on all fronts, or there isn’t a ceasefire on any front.’
The US has insisted Lebanon shouldn’t be a part of any ceasefire deal.
It got here as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ‘has more goals to finish’ within the country.
‘We are going to achieve them,’ he guarantees, ‘either through agreement, or through renewed fighting.’
‘The finger is on the trigger,’ he warned in a video address.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rebutted Iran’s reports that the Strait was closed insisting there may be an ‘uptick in traffic’ today and Trump expects it to be ‘reopened immediately’.
‘That’s his expectation, it has been relayed to him privately… these reports publicly are false.’
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It got here after President Donald Trump went from threatening Iran with ‘annihilation’ to proclaiming that the battered Islamic Republic’s leadership had presented a ‘workable’ plan that led him to comply with a 14-day ceasefire.
‘The rationale for doing so is that we now have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far together with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE within the Middle East,’ Trump said in a social media post announcing the temporary ceasefire.
It got here about 90 minutes before his deadline for Tehran to open the critical Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and other critical infrastructure obliterated.
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