Iran‘s Foreign Ministry has accused the UK of being in breach of international law after it designated the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a security threat and banned support for it.
The ministry said the IRGC was an official part of Iran’s armed forces and thus a state institution that it was not permissible to target, calling the UK’s move “unjustified” and “irresponsible.”
London on Monday banned support for the IRGC under new powers that aim to stop foreign states employing proxies to carry out surveillance, sabotage and other hostile activities.
Iran has previously denied using proxies.
India lodges ‘strong protest’ with Tehran over deadly tanker attacks
India‘s Foreign Ministry has called for an end to attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after summoning Iran’s deputy ambassador over the killing of an Indian mariner in a strike on two tankers there.
“We strongly condemn these attacks and acts of violence targeting seafarers and disrupting free and safe navigation through international waterways like the Strait of Hormuz,” the ministry said.
“In particular, the targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region must cease in order that free and unimpeded navigation and commerce through international waterways in the region, in keeping with international law, can be restored at the earliest,” it said.
It said it had lodged a “strong protest” with Tehran.
The Iranian attack on the tankers MT Al Bahiyah and MT Mombasa also injured 10 other Indian seafarers, two of them seriously, according to the ministry.
The two UAE-linked commercial vessels were carrying a combined crew of 46 people.
Two Ukrainian nationals were also injured in the cruise-missile attack, according to the UAE’s Defense Ministry.
Hapag-Lloyd criticizes Trump’s Strait of Hormuz fee plan
German international shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has criticized plans announced by US President Donald Trump to charge ships for the transit of the Strait of Hormuz.
It would be “fundamentally wrong” to levy fees through international waters, the company told the Reuters news agency.
The Hamburg-based shipping giant said it could not reliably quantify the financial impact of tensions in the Gulf region on its business.
Trump said on Monday that he would charge 20% on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz “for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security.”
Bahrain‘s Defense Force said on Tuesday that several Iranian aerial attacks had been successfully repelled, in a statement issued after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out missile and drone strikes on the kingdom.
The military accused Iran in its statement of continuing “its systematic hostile approach” through attacks targeting civilian sites in Bahrain.
The statement said using missiles and drones to attack civilians and private property was a “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law.
A journalist from the AFP said that blasts had been heard in the Bahraini capital, Manama, with missile alert sirens sounding for the third time since dawn.
Bahrain’s Defense Ministry had warned on X that “sirens have been set off, we urge citizens and residents to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.”
Credit: DW
