U.S. Central Command said Sunday the Strait of Hormuz is open to all vessels seeking to “lawfully transit” and insisted that Iran does not control the waterway, despite recent strikes on commercial ships.
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CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, posted on social media that its “forces are positioned and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available despite unwarranted Iranian aggression.”
“Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing,” CENTCOM posted on X.
President Trump followed up CENTCOM’s comments later Sunday, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the strait is open for commercial traffic. He added that Tehran agreed to a peace deal that included “no nuclear, no this, no that, no nothing,” after the U.S. military attacked Iran overnight.
The comments contradict statements from Iranian authorities about the status of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which Tehran established during the war with the U.S., said Sunday that the waterway is closed due to “illegal movements” by the U.S. military.
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Iran has ramped up attacks on commercial vessels attempting to travel through the strait in recent days, especially those moving in Omani waters.
CENTCOM on Sunday accused Iran of attacking a Cypriot-flagged vessel in the strait and launched retaliatory attacks on more than 140 targets. Iran confirmed that it struck a vessel in the waterway, which it said was transiting illegally, and launched attacks on U.S. military installations in the Gulf in response.
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The latest attacks cap a week of escalations in the U.S.-Iran war.
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