Iran and US make competing claims over control of Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is “under Iran’s control and management”, the recently appointed head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary unit said on Thursday, a day after US President Donald Trump said the United States had “total control” of the strategic waterway.
Hossein Taeb said the US had sought to disrupt what he described as the Islamic Republic’s popularity in the region by launching another war in the Strait of Hormuz, but had once more been defeated despite claiming Iran had neither an air force nor a navy.
“Today you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic Republic,” Taeb said according to the semi-official Fars news, adding that Iran was continuing on its course in complete security.
Separately on Thursday, senior military political official Rasoul Sanaei-Rad said that Iran would not reopen the Strait unless the other side fulfilled its commitments under the interim deal, adding that the reopening of the waterway was not something the US can achieve unilaterally, according to Fars news.
Sanaei-Rad also warned that Iran would respond more forcefully in any future conflict, saying: “In a possible future war, we will stand more firmly and more offensively.”
Yemeni soldier killed in clashes with Houthi group
At least one government soldier was killed and another critically wounded overnight on Thursday in clashes between the Houthis and the military in the mountainous province of Taiz, Yemeni military officials said.
The fighting came as part of a spate of recent attacks by the Houthis on government-held areas across the country.
Dozens of government troops have been killed in attacks since last week, the Yemeni military said.
Elsewhere, several tribal leaders in the central province of Marib said the Yemeni army artillery targeted overnight Houthi movements.
The Houthis have been hitting government-held areas with drones and missiles, saying they have been targeting military forces and warehouses.
They have also been attacking oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea.
On Tuesday, they hit a commercial ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, killing six people.
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, there has been a renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb strait at Yemen’s southern tip, which is an alternate route for Saudi Arabia to ship its oil.
Three Pakistanis were among the dead in the ship attack, and Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that one of its nationals was missing after the attack and two were wounded.
Strait of Hormuz oil spill causing growing environmental concerns
Iran was working to clean up an oil spill off Qeshm Island, which lies off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting the environmental damage being caused by the ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei suggested Iran should receive compensation for its efforts to control the spill, writing on X that anyone who “benefits from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is obligated, both legally and morally, to take action to compensate for, and remedy, the environmental damage”.
Iran has not said how the spill was caused, but the firm TankerTrackers.com posted satellite images on X saying it appears an Iranian attack on a bulk carrier off Oman was behind it.
The spillage then drifted across the strait to Iran, the company said.
In his post on X, Baghaei asked who should be responsible for compensation.
“The countries that benefit from the cheap energy exported from our region? The shipping insurance companies?” he asked.
“Or the aggressors and their partners who have turned the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman into an arena for military operations and testing of highly destructive weapons?”
Oman is in the middle of responding to another spill in the Arabian Sea, coming from a tanker grounded off its southern coast, well away from the Strait of Hormuz.
No party has claimed responsibility for the incident and the cause of a reported explosion has not been revealed.
Environmental experts said an oil spill has been spreading quickly in recent weeks from the partially submerged tanker off the shores of Qabiliyah Island, endangering a marine protected area there.
American ambassador to Israel condemns settlers’ siege of Palestinian homes
The US ambassador to Israel condemned a siege by Israeli settlers of a Palestinian-American family’s home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, calling it a “horrific act of terror”.
Mike Huckabee’s remarks on X represented an unusually sharp rebuke from the Trump administration of the latest episode during a spike in clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the region.
Starting on Sunday, settlers targeted three homes in the village of Qusra, throwing stones and trapping occupants from leaving despite dwindling supplies.
On Thursday morning, Qusai Abu Rida, the brother of the Palestinian-American homeowner who had holed up in the house with his own teenage son to defend it, said they were moved by Israel’s military to another home but still cannot leave the area.
