Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Iran said on Sunday that it had struck an unmanned US vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, a claim the US military rejected as a “total lie”. The exchange came a day after the US military said its forces struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Navy warships being targeted with ballistic missiles.
The latest claims mark another escalation in the conflict, which began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. Although a fragile ceasefire was announced in June, intermittent fighting has continued as negotiations collapsed and both sides kept trying to impose military and economic costs on each other.
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Experts described the reported attack as dangerous, particularly because Iran’s earlier attacks at sea had targeted commercial shipping. The US and Iran resumed attacks last week after about a month of relative calm, with the Strait of Hormuz and areas along Iran’s southern coast again coming under attack.
Earlier in the week, at least five people were killed during a US bombardment that brought renewed focus to an area where a school was hit in the war’s opening strikes. The Trump administration appears to have adopted a two-pronged approach to the conflict, responding militarily to attacks on the strait while also targeting foreign financial institutions that handle Iran’s money.
At the same time, Tehran’s new hard-line senior leaders have signalled that they are prepared to hold their ground after decades of sanctions. Iran has for years found ways to bypass sanctions, and now a US blockade of its ports, and continue selling oil to buyers to ease growing economic pressure. That effort depends in part on a shadow fleet used to transport its oil.
Iran’s leverage is centred on the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and natural gas shipments that had been regarded as an international waterway before the war. On Sunday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that an average of 9 million barrels of oil a day are passing through the strait, which he said should help ease pressure on energy prices. His estimate appeared to be higher than the average flows over the past 28 days through the strait, according to TankerTrackers.com and other sources.
Wright told CNN that with oil also moving through pipelines in the region, “we’re probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows.” But those flows depend on the US Navy’s presence to escort tankers and offer some protection against possible Iranian attacks. Wright said he expected other countries would eventually support the Navy’s efforts.
Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear programme, which was at the centre of the tensions that helped trigger the war, was supposed to be addressed in negotiations that fell apart soon after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June. Diplomats say the US, Britain, France and Germany now want to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for failing to meet its nuclear non-proliferation obligations. Taken together, the fresh military claims, pressure on oil flows and stalled diplomacy underline how the conflict has continued despite the June ceasefire.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
