After a news pantomime last night and earlier today (Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz ... Oh no they haven't ... Oh yes they have,) it has finally been confirmed that Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz once again over Israel's air strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, which Iran describes as“violations” of the peace deal agreed with the USA, Tehran’s military has said. Technically Hezbollah is not part of Trump's war and the conflict between the terrorit organisation's forces in Lebanon and the Israelis is a separate issue.
The Iranian military command stated the closure was the “first step” in response to what it described as breaches of the ceasefire agreement, warning that further measures would be taken if “aggression” continued, Iran's state media reported.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned vessels not to venture into the shipping lanes through the strait, saying their security would be at risk.
The US military immediately denied that Iran had control of the strait. A spokesman for Central Command said: “Traffic continues to move through the strait, and US forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case.”
The reports emerged as JD Vance, the US vice-president, told Fox News that he was confident the ceasefire agreed in Washington’s 14-point deal with Tehran would hold. He claimed there was no evidence that the strait was shut. That may well be true but it is equally true that there is no evidence it is open. What captain is going to risk his ship and the lives of himself and his crew trying to find out.
Independent reports reveal Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 16 people this morning, with the country claiming it was responding to attacks by Hezbollah.But these strikes are nothing to do with Trump or America.
Israel is not the USA. Israel is a sovereign state, whether Iran recognises its right to exist or not. (Spoiler, it doesn't.) Israel is not a signatory. to the Islamabad Memorandum. Hezbollah is not the government of Lebanon and neither are its commanders the IRGC.
Israel is not leaving the buffer zone south of the Litani river and is not allowing Hezbollah to rearm and return to the border to carry out another Hamas style, or worse, October 7th.Hezbollah is a proscribed terrorist group and is widely recognised as an Iranian asset.
The Lebanese army are too weak to control the 90,000 strong Iranian proxy militia, Hezbollah.
UNIFIL () set up in 2006 has not succeeded disarming Hezbollah and not keeping them north of the Lebanon / Israel border.Thus it is wholly disingenuous of Iran to use the Israel - Hezbollah conflict as an excuse for closing Hormuz again, and suggests the government of Iran had no intention of honouring the peace deal. No surprise there.
So much for treaties not worth the paper they are written on. So much for useless UN bodies which are actually in favour of the erasure of Israel.
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