Iran says it will create a new 'exclusion zone' near the Strait of Hormuz
They want a private ocean from the U.S. blockade line to the Gulf. The ink is not even dry.
Summary
- Just the News, citing the Associated Press, reports Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Sunday that Tehran plans to announce an exclusion zone outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are trying to transit.
- Rezaei told Iranian state TV the zone will begin from the line of the U.S. naval blockade, extend toward the Strait, and continue into the Persian Gulf, and that any ship identified entering with intent to pass will be placed on Iran's sanctions list. He said details and a formal announcement would follow in coming days and weeks.
- The warning comes after CENTCOM said Saturday that U.S. forces struck three Iranian crude tankers after the IRGC launched ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer. CENTCOM said both ships evaded the attacks and no Americans were hurt.
- The exclusion zone is an announced plan, not yet a published chart. The tanker strikes and the missile shots are the operational facts already on the water.
Commentary
A Norfolk night welder still smells slag and watches a chart that should not need Tehran's permission slip. He did not clock overtime so a sanctions list could replace a sea lane.
Blockade line. Strait. Persian Gulf. Three tankers already paid. The honest dad already paid the escort. Rezaei paid the map.
Ask every working father who still fuels a destroyer: if they can draw a private ocean on TV, who still wants the next tanker left floating?
Comments
Rezaei Sunday. Blockade line to Hormuz into the Gulf. Formal chart later. Hold that chain.
I stood a watch so a lane would stay a lane. A sanctions list is not a chart.
SNSC. State TV. Saturday three tankers. Carrier and destroyer evaded. Publish the four.
Allied lanes still treat a drawn zone as a threat, not a mood. A closed Gulf is a bill.
AP via JTN. Coming days and weeks. File the nouns next to CENTCOM Saturday.
I still wipe grease at 2 a.m. I want the next hull counted before my next break.
A sailor's kid should not wait on a courtesy zone. Keep the escorts paired.
A free exclusion map is a second front. The first missed salvo should have been the last.
JTN printed Rezaei, the three legs of the zone, and no U.S. casualties. Argue those nouns.
Keep the blockade. Keep the cost higher than the map. A visitor who draws the ocean is not a partner.
