- Explosions heard in Tehran and Jerusalem on fifth day of war
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they controlled the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and gas, warning that any vessels attempting to pass through the waterway risk damage from missiles or stray drones.
“Currently, the Strait of Hormuz is under the complete control of the Islamic Republic’s Navy,” said Guards Navy official Mohammad Akbarzadeh in a statement issued on Fars news agency.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the crucial Gulf shipping route.
Meanwhile, a CIA facility on the grounds of the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia came under a drone attack, The Washington Post (WP) reported, citing sources.
According to the newspaper, “a suspected Iranian drone attack hit the CIA’s station at the US Embassy” in Riyadh. In the news outlet’s view, this may be seen as “a symbolic victory for the Islamic republic.”
The publication stressed that no CIA employees were injured.
On Tuesday, the WP reported, citing a warning circulated among State Department employees that part of the roof of one of the US Embassy buildings in Saudi Arabia had collapsed as a result of a drone strike. The publication asserted that the attack was carried out by Iran on Monday. The State Department said that the embassy’s operations had been suspended.
And eexplosions sounded in Tehran Wednesday as Iran’s war with the US and Israel entered a fifth day following earlier strikes on an Iranian nuclear site and retaliatory strikes by the Islamic Republic across the Gulf region.
The explosions around Tehran came at dawn, according to Iran state television, while Israel’s military said its air defenses had been activated to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.
Five days into a war that US President Donald Trump suggested could last a month or longer, nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran, including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.
Explosions also hit Lebanon, where Israel said it is retaliating against Hezbollah militants. Lebanon’s state-run media reported that at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a residential complex in the city of Baalbeck.
Written with agency reports
