Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday sharply condemned overnight US strikes in the south of the country, accusing Washington of undermining the ceasefire.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in a ministry statement that Iran was determined to respond to the attacks under its right to self-defence.
Baghaei also criticized comments by President Donald Trump, who had threatened to destroy Oman if the Gulf state doesn't “behave.”
"Oman will behave just like everybody else. Or else we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that," Trump said on Wednesday, reacting to media reports of talks between Iran and Oman on jointly regulating the Strait of Hormuz.
Baghaei said Oman had consistently played a “constructive, effective and responsible role for peace and security in the region.” Threats of violence were a “dangerous sign of the normalization of lawlessness and power politics,” he added.
Iranian armed forces seized control of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz shortly after the outbreak of the war. Trump has called for the key route for global oil and gas shipments to be reopened immediately as part of any agreement with Tehran, while insisting it should not be controlled by any single state.
At present, very few vessels pass through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman. Shipping companies are required to coordinate with Iranian authorities and are only permitted to use a corridor close to the Iranian coast, with Tehran imposing high transit fees.
International law experts say such charges violate the right of transit passage under maritime law.
The United States and Iran again exchanged attacks near the Strait of Hormuz early on Thursday despite the ceasefire that came into force on April 8 and ongoing negotiations to end the three-month-old war.
A US official said forces struck an Iranian drone position near Bandar Abbas and shot down four drones, while Iranian media reported that Revolutionary Guards fired on a US oil tanker and forced it to turn back.
