Iran and US escalate rhetoric over Hormuz shipping

Iran and the United States have offered clashing narratives over the fate of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz as they continue to trade threats, even as they maintain contact through mediators. Iranian state media on Saturday released the latest statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader, who pledged revenge for the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed on the first day of the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28.

Khamenei emphasized that this was state policy and did not hinge on any single official. “Soon, individuals among the free people of the world will each carry out a part of this divine mission,” he said. His comments echoed calls for vengeance by hardline religious-backed factions during this week’s funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said, without elaborating, that he believes he is first on the “kill list for Iran” and that he has left instructions to retaliate if an attempt on his life was made. “A thousand Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he wrote. Trump said the repeatedly breached “ceasefire” is over but that mediated talks could continue.

On Friday, Qatari mediators visited Iran for talks, while on Saturday Iranian Foreign Minister travelled to Oman. Ali Vaez, Iran Project director at the Washington-based Crisis Group, said revenge rhetoric is for domestic consumption while diplomacy is aimed at preventing another punishing round of war.

Iran insists on exercising a degree of control over transit through the strait, through which one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said traffic had gradually recovered to about 50 percent of pre-war levels but that ships must only pass through designated routes.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Friday “strongly condemned” Iran’s decision to establish an entity purporting to control traffic through the strait and called on its 176 member states not to recognize Iran’s claims. The US Treasury also imposed new sanctions related to Iran, the first since the June 17 memorandum of understanding, targeting individuals and entities, including a financial facilitator with reported links to Mojtaba Khamenei.