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Iran says it will declare an exclusion zone
September 7, 2026
Iran says a prohibited zone outside the Strait of Hormuz will be announced within days, a day after U.S. strikes on three tankers linked to the Revolutionary Guards.
The Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that once moved a fifth of the world's oil, lies at the heart of a six-month war between Iran and the United States, whose July truce ended when vessels there came under attack.
Key facts
- He went on to say: “We’re working through some political issues in Israel. I think we agree with them on the end state. They just have a crazy election, and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards.” Voting in Israel is scheduled for Oct. 27.
- US Central Command, the body responsible for American military activity across the region, said on Sept 5 that Iranian fire aimed at a destroyer and an aircraft carrier had failed to hit either warship.
- Chris Wright, the U.S. energy secretary, said on Sunday that daily transits average 9 million barrels of oil through the strait, a level he expects to ease strain on energy prices.
- Tehran's state-run outlets framed the incident as an American ship pushing toward waters Iran treats as off-limits inside the Strait of Hormuz, an account that U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins rejected, calling it “a total lie.”
- Speaking to the Iranian state broadcaster, Mohsen Rezaei offered little detail, one day after American forces hit three Iranian oil tankers as a reply to ballistic missiles that Tehran had fired toward U.S. warships.
AP News reports that Mohsen Rezaei, the new head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told the state broadcaster Tehran plans an exclusion zone outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are trying to transit the waterway. The Straits Times carries Rezaei's wording: the zone begins at the U.S. Navy blockade line, reaches into the Persian Gulf, and any ship entering it goes on Iran's sanctions list. PBS, NBC News and Fortune carry the same sequence of events, with the announcement landing a day after U.S. forces struck three oil tankers in reply to Iranian ballistic missiles fired at American warships. Reuters ties the announcement to a restricted zone Tehran plans to name in the coming days, and Al Jazeera's live coverage carries the Hormuz route alongside the fighting in Lebanon. AP News also reports that state-run media in Tehran placed a U.S. vessel inside an area Iran calls restricted, and that Capt. Tim Hawkins, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, called that account “a total lie.”
The rhetoric around the zone is corroborated across the set. AP News reports that Iran's parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said the era of proportionate responses is over and Iran's retaliation will be “faster, heavier and more painful,” and The Straits Times carries his promise of a faster, more intense and more painful response to any aggression, delivered in a speech on state media. The Straits Times reports that CENTCOM said on Sept 5 that Iran had fired unsuccessfully at an aircraft carrier and a destroyer, and that the U.S. then hit three tankers it linked to the Revolutionary Guards. NBC News reports the economic half of the picture: Energy Secretary Chris Wright put average flows through the strait at 9 million barrels of oil a day, an estimate NBC News says appeared to exceed average flows over the past 28 days according to TankerTrackers.com. PBS reports Rezaei's claim to state TV that Iran sells one million to one and a half million barrels daily, as if trade were continuing as usual.
The wider war frames all of it. NBC News and PBS report that the memorandum of understanding the U.S. and Iran signed in mid-June came apart within days, that nuclear talks collapsed with it, and that Washington now pairs military responses in the strait with sanctions on foreign financial institutions handling Iranian money. AP News and Fortune report Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon that killed seven people and leveled an empty hospital, per Lebanon's Health Ministry, with two of the dead in Arabsalim and two more in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa. What is settled is the Iranian announcement, the strikes that preceded it, and the collapse of the June understanding. The count of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the October ceasefire is where the accounts part: one puts the figure at least 1,344, another does not hold to that number.
A relative, Mustafa Quzghat, said: “We are witnessing a painful, heartbreaking scene.”
Still developing
The open toll is the Palestinians killed in Gaza since the October ceasefire, where the figures do not line up between the accounts.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- AP News — US denies that Iran struck an uncrewed US military ship in the Strait of Hormuz
- Fortune — Iran’s chief negotiator warns retaliation will be 'faster, heavier and more painful'
- NBC News — Iran claims strike on a U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz but the U.S. denies it
- PBS — Iran says it plans to announce a new 'exclusion zone' near the Strait of Hormuz - PBS
- The Straits Times — Iran says it will declare ‘prohibited zone’ near Hormuz Strait in coming days - The Straits Times
- aljazeera.com — Iran war live: Tehran to announce Hormuz route; Israel kills 11 in Lebanon