Iran’s state-run media has dismissed the US military’s claims of two American flagged commercial vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz as part of President Donald Trump’s newly launched operation ‘Project Freedom’, claiming that no such thing happened and calling the US statement a lie.
“No commercial vessels or oil tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in recent hours, and the claims made by U.S. officials are baseless and entirely false,” said IRGC-affiliated state media network IRIB.
The statement reiterated a prior warning from Iranian officials that any ships attempting to transit the strait “will face serious risks, and violating vessels will be stopped with force.”
Hours after Trump’s announcement of the new military operation, which he said would see the US military “guide” tankers and other commercial vessels long stuck in the Persian Gulf out through the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM stated that two unnamed commercial US vessels managed to safely traverse the waterway on Monday, along with an unspecified number of US Navy destroyers.
Iran had attacked at least one UAE-state owned tanker in the strait on Monday, targeting it with drones, and an explosion was reported on a South Korean vessel, but the cause remained unclear.
