Iran and the United States traded increasingly heavy blows in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, widening the scope of their attacks. U.S. President Donald Trump played down the latest exchange as "small potatoes," while Iran disclosed that it had struck vessels every day for 10 days and issued a warning over South Korea's moves to deploy forces to the region.
Ali Mohammadi, deputy commander for political affairs of the Revolutionary Guard's navy, said Iranian forces had "punished between two and five vessels in violation every night for 10 days through the 30th of last month," according to the Fars news agency on the 5th. In a separate statement, the Revolutionary Guard warned that if "the aggressive and hostile acts of the U.S. administration continue, they should be prepared for a devastating response from Iran's armed forces." Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker who has led Iran's negotiating team, also warned that "the era of proportional response is over" and that "faster, heavier and more painful retaliation will follow."
The latest clash escalated on the afternoon of the 5th, when U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman came under Iranian attack on two warships and struck back at three Iranian tankers. Two of the tankers were disabled and one was destroyed, according to the Associated Press. Iran said it then struck three tankers passing through unauthorized routes as well as three U.S.-linked vessels in other waters. The Revolutionary Guard said the targets included a U.S. military unmanned surface drone.
Trump, however, said he would "call it a military conflict because to us it's small potatoes," adding that "the truth is we are not fighting right now." Vice President J.D. Vance said on the 4th that major combat operations had ended months earlier and that he would not describe the current fighting as a "war."
The effort by Trump and other senior U.S. officials to minimize the conflict appears aimed at public opinion, which has soured as the war has dragged on. The average U.S. gasoline price stood at $4.14 a gallon on the 4th, the highest ever for the month of September, according to AAA. Declining to define the continuing U.S. military strikes on Iran as a formal military operation also allows the administration to avoid seeking congressional authorization. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, nonetheless warned Iran that the intensity of future strikes could increase.
Against that backdrop, the South Korean government's possible deployment to the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as another variable. Trump said on the 4th that "we are still waiting for Korea to deploy resources to the Middle East," stressing that the country is one of the largest customers for Middle Eastern crude.
A senior Iranian security and political official, by contrast, said "South Korea must not yield to U.S. pressure forcing it to cooperate with illegal American military operations," according to Al Mayadeen. The official said South Korea should "not sacrifice its own interests and reputation for U.S. policies that shake security and stability," adding that if "South Korea takes action against Iran, we will regard it as direct military aggression against Iran and participation in the war."
Separately, U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Iran is considering expanding the scope of its attacks in the near future to include U.S. and Israeli targets, according to the Israeli outlet i24 News.
