At least three ships have been fired at in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after Iran warned it would start targeting US vessels. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) approached a ship this morning andshot at it, causing "heavy damage", according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre.
The UKMTO said Iran did not contact the ship beforehand, while Nour News reported that it "ignored warnings". The incident, 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, was quickly followed by another, in which an "outbound cargo ship" was shot at eightnautical miles west of Iran.
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The UKMTO said the vessel was "now stopped in the water", and all crew were safe and accounted for. It did not confirm whether Iran was behind this attack.
Maritime security sources added that a third container ship was fired at, also roughly eight nautical miles west of Iran, and had stopped in the water, Reuters reports. Its crew are safe and accounted for, the sources said.
Iran earlier threatened to launch devastating strikes on US ships as peace talks are on the verge of collapse.
An Iranian security official warned that the US seizure of the country's ships would be a "big gamble" that would make American ships legitimate targets for retaliation.
He told Al Jazeera: "Starting today, all US-owned ships will be legitimate targets of Iran's asymmetric operations."
The official added that Washington appears to have engaged inthe conflict and subsequent naval blockadewithout considering the high level of risk associated.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
