Iran vows to keep Strait of Hormuz closed; Oil prices hit $100 again; Laundry fire on US aircraft carrier leaves 2 injured
People gather to show their support for Iran’s new supreme leader in Tehran’s Valiasr Square. Photo: Reuters
TEHRAN:
Iran vowed Thursday to make the United States regret launching its war against the Islamic republic and said it would maintain its control over the Strait of Hormuz as oil prices soared.
The International Energy Agency warned that war in the Middle East could lead to “the biggest supply disruption” in the history of the oil industry, but US President Donald Trump wrote on social media that defeating Iran’s “evil empire” was more important than oil prices.
Trump has faced intense political pressure as the global economic fallout from the crisis grows, and he has repeatedly given conflicting messages about when the U.S. campaign might end.
“While starting a war is easy, it cannot be won with a few tweets. We will not give in until they repent of this grave miscalculation,” Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said on X.
His comments came after Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mokhtaba Khamenei, issued a defiant statement, his first since he was appointed last Sunday following the death of his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei in an attack.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was also reportedly wounded, has yet to appear publicly since his nomination, and a state television news anchor read his message calling for revenge.
“The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz should definitely be used,” Khamenei said of the waterway through which a quarter of the world’s maritime oil trade normally transits.
The Revolutionary Guards reacted quickly and the force’s naval commander, Alireza Tangsiri, said: “In response to the commander-in-chief’s order, we will deal the hardest blows to the aggressor” while keeping Hormuz closed.
The strait, through which a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) also typically passes, faces Iran and is just 54 kilometers (34 miles) wide at its narrowest point.
As oil prices rose above $100 a barrel, Trump said that “it is of far greater interest and importance to me as president to prevent an evil empire, Iran, from getting nuclear weapons and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the world.”
In an interview with AFP, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi stated that Tehran is acting only in “self-defense” and wants to ensure that war cannot be “imposed” on it again.
Takht-Ravanchi confirmed that some “friendly countries” had approached Iran to end the conflict, without specifying which ones.
“We tell them the same thing: we want the ceasefire to be part of an overall formula to end the war completely,” he added.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged that the US military was “not currently prepared” to escort the tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli authorities said 14 people have been killed, while attacks in the Gulf have killed 24 people, including 11 civilians and seven U.S. military personnel, according to local authorities and U.S. Central Command.
In Iran, more than three million people have been displaced by the war, according to new figures released Thursday by the UN refugee agency.
Iran’s Health Ministry claimed on March 8 that more than 1,200 people had died in the war, a figure AFP could not independently verify.
Additionally, two crew members of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier currently deployed in the war against Iran, were injured Thursday in a laundry room fire, the U.S. Navy said.
“Two sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition,” a statement from US Naval Forces Central Command said.
The Navy said the fire, which originated “in the ship’s main laundry,” was “not combat-related and is contained.”
The Navy said the Ford is now in the Red Sea as part of Operation Epic Fury, the name given to the massive US bombing of Iran launched by President Donald Trump on February 28.
“There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational,” the statement said.
The laundering episode was not the first reported mishap by the nuclear-powered giant, which was ordered to the Middle East just after a months-long mission in the Caribbean that culminated in the January operation by U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
The Ford’s toilets have been plagued by malfunctions and clogs as a result of misuse by sailors, according to US media reports.
