The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that despite Tehran’s ongoing attacks, the Strait of Hormuz has remained open to commercial shipping and the naval blockade imposed on Iran is being fully implemented.
CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper explained in a video message that the United States had taken control of the strait in coordination with its regional partners; as a result, approximately 400 commercial vessels have passed safely through the strait in the past seven days alone, and allies have been assisted in transporting more than 100 million barrels of crude oil.
He also noted that his forces continue to neutralize naval mines and protect the tanker fleet. The CENTCOM commander accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of carrying out attacks on civilian vessels and revealed that, according to statistics from the International Maritime Organization, more than 20 civilian seafarers have died as a result of Iranian attacks since February.
Cooper also stressed from an economic perspective that US military and naval actions had prevented Iranian crude oil exports worth at least 25 billion dollars, while digital currency assets worth 350 million dollars had been seized. According to Cooper, these sanctions, together with the 38-day military campaign that targeted Iran’s ballistic-missile bases, drones and naval forces, have dealt a heavy blow to the IRGC’s security infrastructure; reducing Tehran’s ability to fund armed groups and creating a problem of unpaid salaries and financial benefits in Iran’s oil and industrial sectors and internal security forces.
He concluded by noting that more than 50 thousand US service members are deployed in the Middle East to counter any move by Tehran and protect maritime security.
