Iran says a new Gulf restricted zone will start at the U.S. blockade line

Iran will announce a new restricted zone in the Persian Gulf in the coming days, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said on state television. The zone, he said, will begin where the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports starts and extend into Gulf waters. Any vessel that enters it will be placed on an Iranian sanctions list.

Rezaei repeated the warning on X on Tuesday, 8 September. “In recent days, Washington has received a clear warning from Iran’s new missiles. Economic warfare will be met by a maritime exclusion zone across the Persian Gulf to the blockade perimeter. The operational posture toward U.S. warships and bases has been fundamentally recalibrated,” he wrote. He also said maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, agreed with Oman and running in Iranian and Omani waters under Iranian management, should be signed in the coming days.

Iranian media said a Qassem Basir ballistic missile was fired at U.S. warships near the strait. The U.S. military said its ships evaded missile attacks. Over the weekend the two sides exchanged fire around Iranian waters. U.S. Central Command said it struck three Iranian vessels after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy ships. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s lead negotiator, warned that energy infrastructure across the Gulf, including American oil and gas interests, was exposed. “Strike our assets and you get struck,” he said.

Hormuz traffic is already thin. Data cited by Reuters put transits at their lowest since May. About 30 percent of seaborne oil and nearly a quarter of liquefied natural gas usually pass the strait. Brent rose toward $97 to $98 a barrel. AAA put U.S. regular unleaded at a Labor Day record of $4.15 a gallon. Qatar has already told Beijing it will put China first if Gulf energy is short. Gulf LNG shipments have been reported down about 90 percent since the war that began on 28 February.

Rezaei tied the corridor to a political condition. He said Iran would only commit to keeping Hormuz open when the United States stopped sabotage, threats and attacks. The restricted zone is the enforcement tool he is offering in public. Whether Iranian forces can police a line that starts at a U.S. blockade perimeter is a separate question. Insurers and shipowners do not need a perfect navy to change routes. A published map and a sanctions threat can move traffic on their own.

The United States added fresh sanctions on remaining parts of Iran’s aviation sector on Tuesday, targeting more than two further slices of the industry. That is the economic half of the same week. The maritime half is the zone Rezaei has promised to draw. Until the maps appear, the market is pricing the threat, not the coordinates.