TEHRAN – Iran has accused the United States of starting the war and then expecting the international community to bear its costs, as tensions continue to escalate around the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, in a post on X, said the Strait of Hormuz had remained fully open until February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran.
“America started the war but expects the whole world to pay the bill,” Baghaei said, accusing Washington of attempting to blame Iran for disruptions that he said were caused by the US itself.
He claimed the US had unleashed what he described as an unlawful and brutal war in the region, disrupting commercial shipping, halting tankers, affecting trade and pushing up energy prices.
Baghaei said Washington was trying to present the consequences of the disruption as a cost of Iran’s actions, arguing that the US was attempting to shift responsibility for a conflict it had started.
Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Iran and Oman had reached an understanding on navigation routes for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Rezaei said an agreement between Iran and Oman would be signed in the coming days, while a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz would also be announced.
According to Rezaei, the new zone would extend from the US blockade line toward the Gulf. He said any vessel entering the restricted zone would be placed on the sanctions list.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also claimed that its forces had targeted a US drone boat that allegedly attempted to enter a restricted area in the Strait of Hormuz.
The IRGC said its naval forces were closely monitoring US military movements in the area and warned that any suspicious activity would receive a strong response.
The IRGC described the Strait of Hormuz as a strategic waterway under the administration of the Islamic Republic of Iran and warned that any US military activity in the area would face what it called “decisive action.”
The US military, however, denied the Iranian claim that an American drone boat had been targeted in the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier, Iranian state media had reported that Iran had targeted a naval drone allegedly attempting to enter a restricted area of the strategic waterway.
