May 4: Iran repels US push at Strait of Hormuz, hits warships after they ignore warnings

By Press TV Website Staff

Iran consolidated its unchallenged control and authority over the Strait of Hormuz on Monday amid a widening collapse of US regional strategy, pushing back decisively against Washington’s latest military offensives.

Tehran rejected the Pentagon’s assertion that several Iranian boats had been destroyed, noting that no commercial vessels or tankers had crossed the strait.

Iranian naval forces fired missiles and drones to warn off US warships attempting to approach the restricted zone, and two missiles later struck a US vessel that ignored repeated warnings.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) vowed to forcefully stop any vessel that defies Tehran’s management rules for international transit.

The fallout stretched across the region, from the Fujairah port fire in the UAE to renewed anxiety in Persian Gulf capitals, underscoring that American adventurism is driving instability.

Key developments on day 66 of the war, the twenty-seventh day of the ceasefire:

• A senior Iranian military official rejected a claim by the United States military that it has sunk several Iranian boats as part of an attempt to open the Strait of Hormuz, the IRIB News reported. Head of CENTCOM Admiral Brad Cooper said earlier that the US military had destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted missiles and drones fired at US warships.
• A massive blaze at oil facilities in Fujairah Port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was a direct consequence of “American adventurism” in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, according to an IRIB report. Citing a senior military source, the report said the Iranian armed forces had no premeditated plan to attack the aforementioned oil facilities.
• No commercial vessels or oil tankers transited the Strait of Hormuz in the past several hours, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said, dismissing US claims as “baseless and outright false.”
• The Iranian Navy fired missiles and drones to warn US warships approaching the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to challenge Iran’s control over the key waterway in the Persian Gulf.
• Two missiles struck a US Navy vessel near the strategic Strait of Hormuz after it ignored warnings from Iran's naval forces, according to Iranian media. The warship was moving in the vicinity of Jask port with the intention of transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, in breach of maritime security protocols. 
• Major General Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that the Iranian Armed Forces will target any foreign forces, particularly from the US military, that attempt to approach or enter the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
• IRGC Spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said the Guards Navy has vowed to “forcefully stop” vessels attempting to defy the rules enforced by Iran regarding international transit through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
• Fifteen crew members of the Iranian commercial vessel Touska, seized by the United States as part of Washington’s illegal naval blockade against the Islamic Republic, returned home from Pakistan.
• Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called on the Persian Gulf states to stop trying to borrow security from extra-regional powers, emphasising that the US military presence in the area serves only as a source of instability and endangers the very countries hosting those bases.
• The chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, Ebrahim Azizi, quoted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying that the Islamic Republic is not currently engaged in negotiations with the enemy on the nuclear issue.
• Iran said the United States has not abandoned its pattern of excessive demands and endless greed, confirming the delivery of Washington’s response to Tehran’s proposed 14-point plan regarding mutual negotiations meant to end the war against the Islamic Republic.
• Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said that US allies in the region are aware that the US-Israeli military aggression on Iran is not legal but rather a “unilateral step” that goes against international law.
• Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar discussed the recent US aggression and Pakistan’s ongoing diplomatic efforts for "peace and stability in the region” in a phone call, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement on social media.
• Iran’s envoy to Germany, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, dismissed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s claim about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, saying that Berlin “must” instead clearly condemn the deadly US-Israeli assault on the Minab elementary school.
• Pro-resistance Handala hacktivists said they have successfully breached a US Navy database and obtained sensitive data on 400 marines.
• Hezbollah Secretary General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said the Israeli regime's plots will never materialise as the resistance movement is resolutely fighting them off, dismissing illusions that Lebanon is a weak country and under the guardianship of others.
• Hezbollah said it carried out 11 fresh operations against Israeli targets, using drones, missiles, and artillery in a series of coordinated attacks.
• Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri stressed that no talks will take place with Israel until attacks being carried out by the occupying regime against the Arab country stop.

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