The US military denied that Iran struck an uncrewed American military vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the claim a “total lie.” A top Iranian official said Tehran plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed seven people and leveled a vacant hospital, according to Lebanese authorities, near an area that has become a flash point in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
State-run media in Tehran said the US vessel was trying to enter an area that Iran says is restricted in the Strait of Hormuz, but Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for the US Central Command, called it “a total lie.”
The claim came a day after the US said it struck Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Iran launching ballistic missiles at Navy warships. Attacks resumed last week after roughly a month of quiet.
The war began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. But negotiations have collapsed after a ceasefire agreement was announced in June, and on-and-off fighting has persisted with both sides trying to inflict military and economic pain.
Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said the era of “proportionate responses” is over and Iran’s retaliation will be “faster, heavier and more painful.”
The new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Tehran plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.
Mohsen Rezaei’s comments to Iran’s state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the US struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at US warships. Experts called the launches a dangerous escalation after Iran’s previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping.
The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and “will begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf,” Rezaei said.
Israeli strikes killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon and leveled an empty hospital, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
Strikes on the village of Arabsalim killed two, the ministry said. Two others were killed in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, near a strategic hill that Israel said its forces gained control over Thursday. And three people were killed in the village of Nabatiyeh al-Tahta after an Israeli drone struck a parking lot. At least 20 others were wounded in strikes, the ministry said, among them three children and five women.
Israel’s military said its latest strikes came in response to a drone attack launched earlier Sunday by Hezbollah on troops in southern Lebanon. It said Hezbollah had used the empty hospital as a command centre.
Since a ceasefire went into effect between Israel and Hezbollah more than two months ago, low-level skirmishes and Israeli strikes continue in the south.
Dozens of Palestinians gathered in Gaza City to mourn over 110 people, including at least 70 children, after their remains were recovered.
Rescue crews have been digging out the bodies from the Zeitoun neighbourhood. They said the dead came from three families whose houses were flattened by Israeli strikes earlier in the war.
“We are witnessing a painful, heartbreaking scene,” said Mustafa Quzghat, a relative.
The bodies were wrapped in white shrouds and draped with Palestinian flags. Some shrouds bore images of the deceased, according to Associated Press footage. They were laid out in rows on the ground.
Over 73,650 Palestinians have been killed since the war in Gaza began, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by UN agencies and international organisations. It doesn’t give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
