Iran says US military killed five civilians in attacks on passenger boats

Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz escalated on Monday
following a deadly maritime encounter, with Iran and the United States offering
sharply differing accounts of the incident and its casualties.
Iran accused the US military of
killing five civilians after allegedly attacking two small passenger boats
travelling from Khasab, Oman, to the Iranian coast. An Iranian military
commander said the United States must be held accountable for the deaths, reports
Al Jazeera.
The US military disputed that
version of events. Admiral Brad Cooper said forces under US Central Command had
sunk six vessels belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
that were attempting to interfere with an operation to escort stranded
commercial ships.
US President Donald Trump later said seven boats had been
destroyed. The IRGC denied that any of its vessels were hit.
The confrontation comes as
Washington presses ahead with "Project Freedom," a military operation
aimed at reopening the Strait, a critical maritime route through which roughly
one-fifth of global energy supplies pass.
Iran effectively blockaded the
waterway following US and Israeli strikes on its territory on 28 Feb. The
closure has contributed to rising oil and fertiliser prices and heightened
concerns about a broader economic slowdown and potential food shortages.
Tehran has said it intends to
maintain control over the Strait and is seeking transit fees, which it
describes as compensation for damage caused by the United States and Israel.
The situation has been compounded by a series of reported incidents across the
region.
The United Arab Emirates said Iran
launched a drone strike on an oil tanker and fired 15 ballistic missiles and
four drones at its territory, causing a large fire at a refinery in Fujairah
and wounding three Indian nationals.
Separately, the South Korean vessel
HMM Namu reported an explosion and fire in its engine room while operating in
the Strait.
Despite the heightened tensions,
the US military said two US-flagged ships transited the waterway on Monday with
naval escort. The IRGC called the claim "baseless," though shipping
company Maersk said one vessel, the Alliance Fairfax, had exited the Gulf under
military protection.
The latest violence has strained a
fragile ceasefire agreed between Washington and Tehran on 8 April.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi criticised the US operation, referring to it as "Project
Deadlock" and saying there was no military solution to the crisis. He
added that negotiations mediated by Pakistan had been making progress.
Trump, however, renewed warnings to
Tehran, saying Iran would be "blown off the face of the Earth" if it
attacked US vessels, and added that US bases were fully equipped for a
potential escalation.
















