Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said early on Sunday that the strait of Hormuz would be closed until further notice, after the US carried out another round of strikes on Iranian military targets on 11 July.
"The strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region, and no vessels will be allowed to pass through," the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency said.
US Central Command (Centcom) later challenged the closure claim. "The strait of Hormuz is open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit the international waterway," Centcom said on X. "Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing."
The conflicting statements deepen uncertainty over shipping through the key Gulf waterway and raise the risk of renewed disruption to oil and LNG flows from the region.
The latest US strikes followed an attack on the containership GFS Galaxy as it transited the strait of Hormuz via the southern route near Oman. Centcom said it began the strikes at 19:15 ET (23:15 GMT) on 11 July, after IRGC forces attacked the Cyprus-flagged vessel.
"A civilian crew member is missing and the vessel is unable to continue the journey due to an onboard fire and significant engine-room damage," Centcom said.
The vessel was hit nine nautical miles east of the Omani coast, prompting the crew to abandon the ship in a lifeboat. The lifeboat has since been rescued by local authorities, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said. The vessel appeared to have its AIS tracking switched off at the time.
Centcom said the US completed a third round of strikes against Iran on 11 July, hitting about 140 Iranian military targets. Targets included Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition storage facilities, communication networks and coastal surveillance locations, it said.
In a separate IRGC statement carried by the Sepah news agency early on Sunday, the force claimed its aerospace arm had struck logistics support centres and refuelling platforms linked to US aircraft carriers at Duqm port in Oman. Duqm is a significant distance from the strait of Hormuz and was hit in the early days of the war, but has been less severely affected since.
Oman's state news agency also reported drone strikes across Musandam governorate, Oman's northernmost governorate. Oman condemned the attacks, the agency added.
Visible AIS data from MarineTraffic showed no traffic through the strait, although vessels may be transiting with tracking systems switched off. But the growing security risk could limit such attempts and threaten the nascent recovery in Gulf crude and product exports.
