Daijiworld Media Network - Tehran

Tehran, Aug 12: Fresh attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Oman and at the entrance to the Red Sea have raised fears of further escalation in the Iran war, as Tehran said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless Washington accepts its conditions for ending the conflict.

The attacks came as prospects for a quick end to the war appeared to fade despite repeated assertions by US President Donald Trump that a deal could be imminent. Oil prices gained while global shares retreated amid renewed pessimism over a quick resolution to the conflict.

Brent crude futures climbed 1.4% to settle at $88.91 per barrel, while US crude rose 1.3% to $83.20.

At the southern end of the Red Sea, four crew members were killed in a suspected Houthi attack on a small cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen's Transport Ministry said. Yemen's Coast Guard said two Yemeni rescuers from an anti-Houthi military group were also killed.

The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah would be the first deaths involving shipping by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis since the Iran war began.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency reported that the group had attacked a Saudi ship carrying military equipment in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It did not identify the vessel, and there was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the US military said a US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship.

The US Central Command said the vessel had ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Maritime sources told Reuters that the ship was struck off Pakistan while sailing into the Gulf of Oman.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have intensified over the past two days.

Iran's top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the US accepts Iran's conditions for ending the war. These include the release of Iran's frozen assets and an end to conflicts throughout the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza.

His comments followed a fresh demand from Trump on Monday that Iran should pay compensation for people killed in 50 years of wars, attacks and protests.

Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent.

In an interview released late Monday, he suggested the uncertainty could continue for some time, saying he might just “bop along” and allow Tehran to fail economically or hit Iran “really, really hard”.

“I'm sort of negotiating,” Trump said, describing the Iranian side as “very devious negotiators”.

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Ohio, Trump said Iran was “going just absolutely fine” and claimed that the United States “totally control[s] the Strait of Hormuz”.

“At some point, maybe they'll do something and then they get blown away. But right now, we're in a very good position,” he said.

Trump also described Iran as having been the “bully of the Middle East” for 50 years and said that was no longer the case.

Rezaei, who was appointed on Sunday as second-in-command of the body coordinating Iran's security and foreign policy, gave one of the strongest indications yet that the Strait of Hormuz may not reopen to shipping anytime soon.

“As long as America does not change its behaviour and does not accept Iran's conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened,” Rezaei said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

There was no immediate comment from Washington.

The Strait of Hormuz handled around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows before the war, making any prolonged disruption a major concern for global energy markets.
Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.

Iran has struck US assets and infrastructure in countries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The prospect of further escalation increased after Mohammad Reza Naqdi, an adviser to the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said on Iranian state television that the corps was developing the ability to conduct operations “on enemy soil”.

“We need to be able to move the operations to the enemy's soil, whenever this is needed and ordered,” he said.

“This is the characteristic of the offensive doctrine that has to be attained,” he added.