Iran warns ships approaching Strait of Hormuz to stay anchored or else they will be TARGETED – after firing on tankers and cruise ship: RECAP

Gunfire has been reported after at least two ships tried to navigate through the Strait of Hormuz.

Maritime sources suggested that the vessels had received fire after trying to cross the strait after Iran’s earlier announcement it had again closed it to traffic.

It is believed that one of the affected vessels may be an Indian oil tanker, although this has not been independently confirmed.

The UKMTO said it had received a report of a tanker being approached by two IRGC gun boats, around 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman.

These boats are said to have fired on the tanker. All crew are safe and accounted for, the agency added.

The Strait of Hormuz has again been closed to international shipping, Iran has said.

State broadcaster IRIB confirmed in the last few minutes the shipping route, which sees 20 per cent of global oil and gas pass through it each year, is ‘closed’ and any passage requires approval from Tehran.

Iran had earlier allowed a convoy of ships to pass for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict.

But after it became clear the US was continuing a blockade against Iranian ships, Tehran has once again implemented the closure, a spokesperson said.

For this reason, control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state, and this strategic strait is under the strict management and control of the armed forces.

As long as the United States does not end the complete freedom of passage of vessels from Iran to destination and from destination to Iran, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain under strict control and in its previous state.

Antnio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has condemned an attack on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon earlier today.

A French soldier was killed in the incident, and three others were injured.

He said on X:

I strongly condemn Saturdays attack on @UNIFIL_ during which one French peacekeeper was killed & another three were injured.

I extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends & colleagues of the fallen peacekeeper, and wish a full & fast recovery to the injured peacekeepers.

This is the third incident in recent weeks to have resulted in the deaths of peacekeepers serving in Lebanon.

These attacks must stop. All actors must respect the cessation of hostilities & the ceasefire.’

The IDF has confirmed that they have launched a fresh wave of attacks in southern Lebanon.

According to AlJazeera, the Israeli Army has launched two air strikes on what it has described as ‘the new yellow line’.

One of the strikes targeted a Hezbollah group that was approaching the yellow line, the publication has reported.

Meanwhile, the second allegedly struck a man who was coming into a tunnel entrance that was south of the yellow line.

According to the newspaper, Israel carried out the attack on him and destroyed the tunnel entrance, as a military spokesperson maintained it did not violate the ceasefire.

Esmail Baqaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, has said Europe’s inability to ‘practice what it preaches’ has turned its talk on international law into ‘peak hypocrisy in a brutal swipe at the EU’s foreign policy chief.

Earlier today, Kaja Kallas the EU’s foreign policy chief, says transit through waterways like the Strait of Hormuz ‘must remain open and free of charge’ under international law.

In response on X, Baquei issued the following response, where he accused the diplomatic bloc of ‘green-lighting’ the US and Israel’s attacks:

Oh, that ‘international law’?! The one that the EU dusts off to lecture others while quietly green-lighting a U.S.-Israeli war of aggressionand looking the other way on atrocities against Iranians?!

Spare the sermons; Europes chronic failure to practice what it preaches has turned its ‘international law’ talk into peak hypocrisy. No rule of international law forbids Iran, the coastal State, from taking necessary measures to stop the Strait of Hormuz being used for waging military aggression against Iran.

And ‘unconditional transit passage’ in Hormuz? That fiction sailed the moment U.S./Israeli aggression brought U.S. military assets into the straits backyard.

Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has branded the US blockade of Iran’s ports as ‘an ill-judged and misguided decision’.

He told the country’s state TV:

I had said that if they do not lift the blockade, transit through the Strait would certainly be restricted.

He also stated that the strategic passage was ‘under the control’ of Tehran.

Meanwhile, he said Iran ‘stood firm and confronted’ Washington when they wanted to carry out mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

He added:

We regarded this as a breach of the ceasefire and said that if they took such action, we would strike.

Donald Trump convened an emergency situation room meeting with his inner circle on Saturday to discuss the precarious Strait of Hormuz situation, according to a report.

The president met with Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others, Axios reported, citing two US officials.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratliffe, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine also reportedly attended.

The meeting comes amid reports that US soldiers are preparing to storm Iran-backed ships ‘in a matter of days,’ US officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The Iranian military declared the Strait of Hormuz closed again today, prompting ships to abandon attempts to transit

On Friday, Tehran had declared the strait open after a ceasefire was agreed in Israel’s war with Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This prompted elation in global markets and sent oil prices plunging, but with Trump insisting that a US naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a deal to end the wider war was concluded, Tehran said it was shuttering the strait once more late on Saturday morning.

Iran’s central military command said that, in response to the US blockade, Hormuz was again ‘under strict management and control of the armed forces’.

The Revolutionary Guards warned that any effort to cross ‘will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted’.

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon on Friday, the day after the start of a US-brokered ceasefire.

It said two other soldiers were injured in the incident, but didnt release any more details.

This brings to 14 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the latest war in Lebanon.

Naim Kassem, head of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, in a statement read on the groups al-Manar TV, said a paper published by the US State Department that it described as the text of a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel ‘means nothing at the practical level, but it is an insult to our country.’

‘Everyone knows that the government of Lebanon has not met or approved this statement,’ he said.

The text published by the U.S described the 10-day truce as a gesture by Israel ‘to enable good-faith negotiations’ toward a permanent peace agreement with Lebanon.

The text gives Israel the ‘right to take all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.’ It does not mention any similar right for Lebanon or Hezbollah.