Iran Announces Prohibited Zone Near Strait of Hormuz Amid Escalating US-Iran Naval Clashes

Iran's top security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, has said his country will establish a "prohibited zone" near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, according to state media.

"In the coming days, a prohibited zone will be announced outside the Strait of Hormuz," Mr Rezaei told state TV on Sunday.

"This zone will start from the US Navy's blockade line and include areas of the Persian Gulf. Any ship entering this new zone will be placed on the sanctions list [of Iran]."

Iran will also launch swifter and more forceful responses to US attacks, top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has said, after an exchange of fire in which Tehran targeted American warships and the US attacked Iranian tankers.

"The Americans must have understood that the era of proportionate responses has come to an end," said Mr Qalibaf in a speech carried by state media, adding that "any aggression against Iran's interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response".

Saturday's attacks included the Revolutionary Guard Corps saying they targeted a US naval drone, three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and US vessels elsewhere, as well as a US aircraft carrier and a destroyer.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) had said its forces "disabled" two Iranian oil tankers off Iran's Kharg island and "completely destroyed" an unladen Iranian crude oil tanker in the Sea of Oman.

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In its statement, CENTCOM said American warships had "successfully evaded" Iran's attacks.

Iran has largely blocked passage through the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of war on February 28.

Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and last month announced what it called an "economic asphyxiation" campaign on Iran aimed at strangling its already battered economy.

In his speech, Mr Qalibaf called on authorities to better manage Iranian imports to confront what he called the US campaign "seeking to paralyse the supply cycle and energy management".

On Sunday, local time, Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said Tehran was seeking to inflict economic damage on the US.

"If America wants to inflict one dollar of economic damage on Iran, it inflicts tens of dollars of damage on itself," he said.

Violence flares in Yemen

Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in south-west Yemen killed more than 140 combatants between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, local time, military sources have told AFP.

Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed, mostly in missile attacks, while four Houthi military sources said 57 rebel fighters were killed in the same period.

Days-long clashes have erupted in Yemen over control of a gateway to the Red Sea in the deadliest fighting in the Arabian Peninsula country since a 2022 ceasefire between the two sides collapsed in July.

Beginning on Thursday, the Houthis launched an offensive aiming to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab choke point at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

According to an AFP tally compiled using various military and medical sources from both sides of the conflict, more than 300 combatants and some civilians have been killed since the start of the Houthi assault on Thursday.

One military official with the internationally recognised government based in Aden said fighting had subsided in the early hours of Sunday morning.