Iran threatened the United States with "economic warfare" on Tuesday and said it had fired an advanced missile at US warships, underscoring the risks of further escalation in the war only days after both sides traded blows again.
The six-month-old war has been marked by a cycle of pauses followed by periodic flare-ups, with the US last reporting attacks on Iranian targets on Saturday, when US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers. Iranian state media on Sunday reported that Iran fired the Qassem Basir missile in its attacks on several US vessels.
Despite US attempts to open up the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has continued to disrupt shipping through the critical artery for global oil and gas supplies, with commodity vessel traffic slowing again this week.
Tehran has vowed to announce a new restricted zone in the coming days, along with maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, though it was unclear when details would emerge.
The new restricted zone would begin from where the US blockade of Iran begins and extend into areas of the Gulf, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television on Sunday, adding that any vessel entering the area would be placed on an Iranian sanctions list.
On Tuesday, Rezaei reissued dual economic and military threats on X.
"In recent days, Washington has received a clear warning from Iran’s new missiles,” he said, adding “economic warfare will be met by a maritime exclusion zone” across the Arabian Gulf to the blockade perimeter.
“The operational posture toward US warships and bases has been fundamentally recalibrated," Rezaei said.
He was likely referring to the Qassem Basir ballistic missile that Iranian media reported was fired at US warships near the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said its warships evaded any missile attacks.
