Iran announced that it had once again closed the Strait of Hormuz over Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, according to a military command statement carried by state media.
“It is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic,” the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters said in remarks carried by Iran’s Mehr state news agency.
“It is noted that this first step is a response to the enemy’s breach of promise, and if the aggression continues, further steps will be planned and taken to force the enemy to comply with its obligations.”
The decision was later confirmed in a statement by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
It warned vessels not to approach the Strait of Hormuz, or their security would be at risk.
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The IRGC cited Israeli attacks on Lebanon, as well as US violations of the ceasefire agreement, as reasons for the closure.
A fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the vital waterway, which Iran had effectively closed for nearly four months since Israel and the US began the war in late February.
It was briefly re-opened after US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a preliminary agreement earlier this week to halt hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.
The announcement of the closure of Hormuz came after at least 29 people were killed on Saturday, as Israeli forces launched a wave of attacks on southern Lebanon a day after Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire.
A series of Israeli attacks on the Nabatieh district on Saturday killed 16 people and wounded 12 others, Lebanon’s civil defence agency said.
An Israeli strike on the village of Barish in Tyre, a coastal city known as Sour in Arabic, killed four members of the same family, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
The NNA also reported that at least seven people were killed and 13 were injured in an Israeli attack on a village near the southern city of Sidon.
Another person was killed in the municipality of Shahour in the Tyre district, and one person was killed in the town of Sohmor, the western Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon.
The Lebanese army said one of its officers had been killed in an Israeli air strike on the Kfar Rumman-Nabatieh road.
“It has become clear that the continued brutal Israeli attacks aim to obstruct any solution that would allow for the restoration of stability in Lebanon,” the army said in a statement.
Talks continue in Switzerland
The attacks on Lebanon come as the US and Iran sought to implement a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending hostilities.
The Israeli government and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire on Friday afternoon, mediated by Qatar and the US.
Follow up talks to implement the agreement were set to take place in Switzerland over the weekend.
Iran’s foreign ministry said that its negotiating delegation would travel to Switzerland to discuss the implementation of the agreement signed with the US.
Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the team would “travel to Switzerland to follow up and demand implementation of the other party’s commitments” under the deal, according to the official news agency Irna.
Switzerland provided a “discreet and reliable setting” at Burgenstock to facilitate discussions on implementing the memorandum of understanding, the Swiss foreign ministry said on Saturday.
It added in a statement that no further details would be disclosed about participants and the content of the talks, citing confidentiality.
