U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he does not believe any party is providing military support to Iran, while stressing that Washington is continuing to exert economic pressure on Tehran.
Rubio said Iran continues to attempt to target U.S. warships, warning that it would pay a price by losing its tankers. “They haven’t hit our ships, but they lost five more tankers last night,” he said.
Amid the maritime escalation, CNN reported that the United States continues to consider launching “decisive strikes” against Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, saying officials within the U.S. Department of War recently held an intensive planning session on the matter.
Satellite imagery showed a significant increase in construction activity this year at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, according to CNN, as the war between Washington and Tehran continues.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said the United States and European countries would only damage the global nuclear nonproliferation regime through the decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors.
Hormuz: From Energy Corridor to War Zone
Amid the escalation, Iran said it had attacked 20 vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps expanded the “restricted zone” that ships are prohibited from entering without coordination with Tehran.
The Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted two U.S. vessels, eight oil tankers and 10 “non-compliant vessels” attempting to transit the strait, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
U.S. Central Command denied that any of its vessels had been hit, while the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said several commercial vessels in the northern Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman caught fire “as part of ongoing military activity in the region.”
Revolutionary Guard spokesman Hossein Mohbi said the expanded zone begins roughly near Chabahar in southern Iran and extends into parts of the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea along the route leading to the Strait of Hormuz.
He said any vessel entering the zone without coordination would face “punitive measures,” including being barred from using the strait or accessing maritime-related services such as insurance.
The expansion of the restricted zone comes as shipping traffic through Hormuz has declined and crude oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel for the first time since July, amid growing concerns over disruptions to global energy supplies.
The armed forces said air defenses had dealt with 20 ballistic missiles launched by Iran, intercepting and destroying 18 of them. Two missiles landed in unpopulated areas, with no casualties reported.
The escalation followed the U.S. military’s announcement that it had retaliated for an Iranian attack targeting a U.S. warship, the second such incident in less than a week. Washington also announced the destruction of five Iranian oil tankers, saying the strikes were in response to Iranian attempts to attack U.S. warships.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, justified attacks on U.S. military facilities as an act of “self-defense,” saying Washington’s targeting of Iranian commercial vessels not only increases the risks of escalation but also threatens regional and international peace and security.
As the escalation spreads to wider arenas, the United Nations called for restraint and stressed that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz must be “fully restored.”
Economic Pressure and Nuclear Escalation
Alongside the maritime confrontation, economic pressure on Tehran is intensifying as Washington seeks to restrict Iran’s trade and financial channels while maintaining its blockade of Iranian ports.
In the latest development on the nuclear front, the IAEA Board of Governors voted to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over what it described as Tehran’s “non-compliance” with its nuclear obligations.
The decision comes amid growing disputes over Iran’s cooperation with the agency. Tehran called the move political and rejected what it described as U.S. and European pressure.
Any action against Iran at the UN Security Council is likely to face political obstacles given opposition from Russia and China, potentially making the referral more of a diplomatic pressure tool than an immediate path toward new sanctions.
Iran’s representative to the IAEA, Reza Najafi, said the resolution was adopted “under political pressure from the United States and its allies,” calling it “baseless” and saying it would produce no results.
Trump Bets on the Post-November Election Period
Against the backdrop of the escalation, U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes the war will end “right after” the November midterm elections, arguing that Iran “cannot hold out much longer” and accusing Tehran of attempting to influence the elections.
The Revolutionary Guard, meanwhile, laid out conditions for ending the war, including a halt to the conflict and an end to repeated threats, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, an end to the blockade imposed on Yemen, the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and an end to interference in Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
The positions come as negotiations between Tehran and Washington remain stalled, with the two sides competing for control and influence over the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed before the war.
Netanyahu Raises the Stakes
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escalated his rhetoric toward Tehran, reiterating his position that the “fall of the regime” in Iran is imminent.
During a visit to Israeli forces in southern Syria, Netanyahu said, “The main mission is to bring down the terrorist regime in Iran,” adding, “We are very close to achieving that,” and saying the “entire axis will eventually collapse.”
The remarks come as confrontations continue in and around the Strait of Hormuz despite an April ceasefire agreement that ended a previous round of intense bombardment.
As commercial shipping declines to low levels, attacks on vessels and oil tankers are intensifying, turning freedom of navigation into one of the war’s most significant pressure points.
Washington has also intensified secondary sanctions on entities and countries maintaining commercial ties with Iran as part of a campaign aimed at isolating the Iranian economy and cutting off its sources of funding.
Between July 8 and 24, the United States resumed attacks on Iran, while Tehran retaliated by attacking countries in the region, before talks resumed over safe passage for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
The war began on February 28, when Israel and the United States attacked Iran, prompting Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war served as a major route for roughly one-fifth of global energy supplies.
As the confrontation expands from military facilities to oil tankers, maritime routes, the economy and the nuclear issue, the Strait of Hormuz appears to be at the center of a new phase of the war—one in which military confrontation is intertwined with economic, nuclear and diplomatic pressure, while the risk of the conflict spreading across multiple fronts remains.
Source: AFP
