US President Donald Trump threatened to use frozen Iranian assets to pay for damage to ships and cargo in and around the Gulf.
“Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls,” Trump wrote on Truth social.
In response to Trump’s statement, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday the seizure of the assets to pay for shipping damage was an “incendiary precedent”.
“Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent,” Araghchi wrote on Friday.
“Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalise confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful,” he added.
The latest exchange comes as the United States launched a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, targeting military and commercial sites.
Iranian state media reported explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas, a key hub for military supplies and trade cargo, as well as on Qeshm Island, home to naval assets, including drone boats capable of attacking vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Blasts were also reported to the northwest near Andimeshk, Omidiyeh and Firuzabad.
As Washington and Tehran continue its standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, a new front emerged in the region with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis threatening to shut down another key trade route.
On Thursday, Trump threatened the Houthis with “major military punishment” after the Tehran-backed militant group claimed they struck two Saudi oil tankers transiting through the Red Sea.
“The US will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a surrogate and/or proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis themselves” should the rebels launch further attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said earlier this week the US would “take care” of the Houthis if shipping and energy exports came into peril by a potential blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow gateway to the Red Sea through which around 12% of the world’s trade usually passes.
Earlier this week, the Houthis said they had closed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sana’a.