Iran says seven ships hit in Strait of Hormuz, warns US against broader response | US-Israeli war against Iran

The United States has rejected the IRGC’s claims, calling them an attempt to raise oil prices ahead of the U.S. election.

Iran says seven oil tankers were hit and damaged in the Strait of Hormuz, the highest daily death toll for the waterway since the United States and Israel began their war against Iran on February 28.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Thursday that four of the vessels were transferring oil when they were targeted and caught fire overnight. The other three were neutralized after hitting mines.

These claims could not be independently verified and the report did not provide any details about possible casualties or the tankers’ flags.

The IRGC also warned it could strike US bases in the Middle East if Washington decides to help oil tankers transit other parts of the strait.

“The US military must know that if this trend continues, the conflict will spread to its bases in the region,” the IRGC said in a statement published on its Sepah News website. “This is a serious warning.”

Iran claims control of Hormuz, a strategic sea route through which a fifth of the world’s oil reserves passed before the war broke out. He regularly attacks ships that attempt to navigate the strait without his authorization.

But the U.S. military is escorting a growing number of ships through the waterway, and Iran is responding by stepping up its attacks.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that “Iran is doing everything it can to drive up the price of oil ahead of the US midterm elections.”

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he added: “They are making up fake hits, mines and everything else because more oil is passing through the Strait of Hormuz now than before the conflict started. »

A spokesperson for the US Central Command, speaking anonymously to Al Jazeera, also called the Iranian claims inaccurate.

The spokesperson said U.S. forces had cleared international shipping lanes and Iran was using missiles and drones.

The strait remains open, the spokesperson said, with 95 percent of ships passing through it.

These attacks, the spokesperson added, show Tehran’s “desperation” in the face of the US blockade, which deprives Iran of the resources it needs to rebuild military capabilities that the United States says it destroyed.

Americans want “relief” from war costs

“The number of ships and tankers attacked every day is increasing, and Iran says it continues to do so because it will not allow any change in this situation,” Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall said from Tehran.

“They currently have total control of the Strait of Hormuz,” they say. »

Vall said there was also talk in Tehran of an imminent escalation of the war, with Iranians expecting the United States to attack even before the U.S. midterm elections in early November.

“The IRGC army chief boasted that Iran is more ready than ever and has produced enough weapons and equipment to wage a symmetrical war against the United States,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said in a report from the US White House: “Striking Iran does not appear to serve any Republican interest,” adding that pre-election polls tell the same story for Trump’s political party.

“What we’ve seen in the surveys over the past few months, and through today, is that most Americans want a break from their tax dollars intended to finance any potential war with Iran that escalates,” Halkett said.

“There is real frustration with rising costs for ordinary Americans, given the rising fuel prices caused by this conflict…As a result, the U.S. president must make his case.”

“The pressure is on the president, and it’s not just coming from the opposition party,” she said. “This also comes from the Republican Party. »