LONDON: Overnight US strikes killed an Iranian navy lieutenant in the southern port of Jask, Iranian news agencies Mehr and Tasnim reported, citing a local official.
The officer was identified as Hamidreza Dehghani.
Iran said Sunday it would close the Strait of Hormuz and launched missiles and drones at Gulf neighbors after the US carried out a new round of strikes, escalating the conflict.
The latest exchange followed an Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the strait. The vessel caught fire, forcing its crew to abandon it.
The escalation further undermines an interim agreement between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending a war that began in late February with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader.
Mediators have been attempting to revive a diplomatic solution after President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire over earlier this week.
“Following this incident... the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday, according to state news agency IRNA.
Iran said it targeted two ships in the strait, claiming they ignored instructions to use an approved transit corridor or were “violating regulations,” IRNA reported.
The attacks prompted a wave of US strikes across Iran. The US military said it hit about 140 targets in its third round of attacks this week.
Iranian media reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Jask, Qeshm Island and Khuzestan province.
“The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the US military said on X.
