Iran Forms New Body to Manage the Strait of Hormuz
NEW DELHI, May 18: Iran’s top security body announced on Monday the formation of a new body to manage the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed and wants to charge ships to traverse.
On its official X account, the Supreme National Security Council shared a post for the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) saying it would provide “real‑time updates on the #Hormuz_Strait operations and latest developments.” The account of the Revolutionary Guards navy shared the same post
Earlier in the day, Iran said it had responded to a new U.S. proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that exchanges were continuing despite Iranian media reports describing Washington’s demands as excessive. “As we announced yesterday, our concerns were conveyed to the American side,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said during a press briefing. He said exchanges were “continuing through the Pakistani mediator” without providing details.
Meanwhile, Iranian sources said the US has shown flexibility on allowing Iran to maintain limited peaceful nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The source said on the issue of Iran’s frozen assets, however, Washington has so far only agreed to free one quarter of those assets according to a phased timetable. Iran wants the U.S. to reconsider both positions, the source said.
Hezbollah on Monday said it fired a drone at a military target in northern Israel, as Israel continued launching strikes on south Lebanon despite an extension of the truce between the countries. In a statement, Hezbollah said it launched the drone at “an Iron Dome platform belonging to the Israeli enemy army” in a military encampment in northern Israel, in response to an Israeli “violation” of the ceasefire.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday their forces had struck groups linked to the United States and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq. In a statement carried by the ISNA news agency, the Guards said groups from “northern Iraq and acting on behalf of the U.S. and the Zionist regime were attempting to smuggle a large shipment of American weapons and ammunition” into Iran. They said the groups were hit in the Iranian city of Baneh in the Kurdistan region.
(Manas Dasgupta)
