Strait of Hormuz - Page 3

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday his forces shot down an American reconnaissance drone in international airspace to send a “clear, decisive, firm, and accurate message” to the United States and boasted his forces are “completely ready for war.”

Japan will not send Self-Defense Force personnel to respond to attacks on a Japanese-operated oil tanker in the Middle East, the country’s defense minister said Friday.

Elements of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet were called to assist two oil tankers early Thursday morning, in distress after a “reported attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman.”

Iran’s ambassador to Britain lashed out at the United States on Tuesday, accusing it of dragging Iran “into an unnecessary war” in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that two of its oil tankers suffered “significant damage” from sabotage attacks off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) near the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks reportedly also damaged two ships from other nations, one of them registered to Norway.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday warned Iran that it will face a “swift and decisive U.S. response” if it attacks American interests or directs its proxy forces to do so.

Iran successfully test fired what it claimed is a cruise missile on Sunday during naval exercises near the contested Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state media.

Iran held its latest in a string of threats and military muscle stretches in the Persian Gulf on Friday, as an assortment of jet fighters conducted a “show of strength” aerial drill, to be followed by a naval exercise on Saturday.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s official IRNA news agency says the country’s air force is carrying out a drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.

Gen. Rasoul Sanayee Raad, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on Wednesday became the latest Iranian military commander to threaten military action against the United States and confidently predict Iran would emerge victorious from such a conflict.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday evening dismissed Iran’s claim to control the Strait of Hormuz and the entire Persian Gulf. Pompeo promised that the United States would continue to protect freedom of navigation in those international waterways.

Iran on Monday ratcheted up both its threats and its pleas for rescue from American sanctions, belligerently claiming complete control of the Persian Gulf and seeking to expel the U.S. Navy while demanding European nations promise to alleviate sanctions against its banking and oil industries.

IIran has been looking to China to salvage what remains of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday re-emphasized the need for China’s help.

United States officials told media Wednesday that the naval fleet of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is planning to place 100 gunboats in the Persian Gulf within the next 48 hours to practice “swarm” tactics, an exercise that is usually reserved for the fall.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of an unconditional meeting. “Certainly, the decisions of the new U.S. administration are fleeting,” he sneered, implying that Trump was not serious about offering to meet with him.

Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz – a key Gulf passage for shipments of commodities – over Washington threatening to sanction any country that fails to stop importing oil from the Islamic Republic by November 4.

The Iranian Army’s Ground Force Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari met with a delegation from China’s Ministry of National Defense Tuesday to discuss ways to boost defense ties between Tehran and Beijing. Both parties appeared to agree that the United States poses “the biggest threat to humanity.”

An Iranian military vessel confronted an American warship in the Gulf and warned it to stay away from a damaged Iranian fishing boat, Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, but the U.S. Navy denied any direct contact with Iranian forces.

It has long been obvious that North Korea shares missile technology with Iran, but Fox News reports the Pentagon is investigating military ties between the two belligerent nations with increased vigor after Iran’s recent test launch of a submarine missile.

On Tuesday, the aircraft carrier USS George W. Bush entered the Strait of Hormuz from the Indian Ocean, a vital waterway that handles about 30 percent of the world’s oil shipping. As it has done so often over the past few years, Iran sent a swarm of speedboats to harass the carrier.

A senior official in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday accused the United States of provoking tensions after two separate incidents in the Gulf last week.

Continuing a pattern of provocative actions, Iran this weekend test-fired a pair of ballistic missiles and sent fast-attack vessels close to a U.S. Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News.

On Saturday, several fast-attack boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) approached a U.S. Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz at high speed in the latest “unsafe and unprofessional” action by Iranian forces.

The Iranian Navy test-launched an anti-ship cruise missile on Monday morning as part of a large-scale naval exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s navy began an annual drill Sunday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, its first major exercise since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, state television reported.

Four Iranian boats made a high-speed approach at the destroyer USS Mahan on Sunday, obliging the Navy vessel to fire warning shots after they ignored radio requests to break off.

A U.S. Navy destroyer fired three warning shots towards four of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels on Sunday after they closed in at a high rate of speed in the Strait of Hormuz, two U.S. defense officials told Reuters on Monday.

The U.S. military presence in the Gulf poses the main risk of conflict in the region, an Iranian military official said on Tuesday after Washington said an Iranian vessel had pointed its weapon at a U.S. helicopter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

On Saturday, as the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group passed through the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian patrol boat trained a crew-served weapon on a U.S. Navy helicopter.

Saudi Arabia is conducting live-fire drills during war games underway in the Gulf, official media said on Tuesday, as tensions simmer with Iran.

Aviation giants Airbus and Boeing Co. have received permission from the U.S. government to sell aircraft to Iran, part of landmark deals potentially worth some $50 billion in total following last year’s nuclear accord.

Iran has threatened once again to close the Strait of Hormuz if the nation faces military action by its “enemies.”

Eight major maritime chokepoints, through which oil tankers transit, exist globally. Seventeen million barrels of oil daily pass through one of them — the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran would drown U.S. warships if they pose a threat to the Middle Eastern country, warns a commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy.

Iran’s Gen. Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, declared on Iranian state television Wednesday that the Islamic Republic will close the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil transport channel, to the United States if it chooses to “threaten” it.

Iran warned a U.S. warship and jet to leave the area near the Strait of Hormuz where the Iranian navy took part in military exercises.