The new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Sunday (September 6, 2026) said Tehran plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.

Mohsen Rezaei’s comments to Iran’s state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at U.S. warships.

Experts called the launches a dangerous escalation after Iran’s previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping.

The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and “will begin from the line of the U.S. naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf,” Mr. Rezaei said. “Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list.” It is not clear where Iran defines the location of the weekslong U.S. blockade, which is aimed at Iranian ports and keeping Tehran from shipping out its oil. The U.S. military has said over 20 warships are supporting the blockade, which as of Sunday (September 6) had redirected 92 commercial ships and disabled three.

The U.S. has been introducing new measures to increase the economic pain on Iran after negotiations collapsed and no end to the intermittent fighting appears in sight.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack some ships trying to transit the strait, which has become an important source of leverage for Tehran in the war that began February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes.

Iran’s parliament has begun work on a bill on the Strait of Hormuz, the head of the security committee said on Tuesday (July 14, 2026), as fighting flared between Washington and Tehran over the strategic waterway.

“Last night, coinciding with the downing of U.S. drones, the ‘Strategic Action for the Security and Sustainable Progress of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf’ bill was formally introduced in Iran’s Parliament,” Ebrahim Azizi wrote on X.

West Asia war updates on July 14, 2026

“We remain steadfast in defending our red lines, particularly regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. “This is the first step; subsequent measures are forthcoming.”

U.S.-Iran fighting reignited last week over disagreements on how the vital strait would be managed, throwing into question a framework deal signed last month seeking to end the West Asia war.

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Tehran envisages itself as overseeing the strait and wishes to impose fees on transiting vessels — a demand Washington has strongly rejected.

President Donald Trump on Monday (July 13, 2026) said the United States was “taking over” Hormuz and reimposing a blockade of Iranian ports, floating a 20 percent fee on cargo transiting the waterway.

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Iran had on Sunday (July 12, 2026) declared that the strait was closed, after having opened it to shipping during negotiations with the United States seeking a final deal to permanently end the war.

Iran’s legislature had been suspended after the war broke out in late February, but resumed sessions on Monday (July 13, 2026).

Parliament is headed by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also acts as chief negotiator in talks with Washington, a role that has thrust him further into the political limelight in recent months.

A number of lawmakers are opposed to any negotiations with the United States, and expressed concern over having no say on the signing of the memorandum of understanding with Washington.

The U.S. military insisted on Sunday (July 12, 2026) that ships are moving through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iran’s claim to have closed it in the latest flare-up of the war in West Asia.

Also read: West Asia war updates on July 12, 2026

“Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing,” United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. forces in West Asia, said on X.

In a later post, CENTCOM directly mentioned and challenged an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps statement that the vital conduit for global oil flow was closing.

But the U.S. military said the strait “remains an international waterway. U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to keep it that way.”

As it announced the strait was closing, Iran also attacked U.S.-allied Gulf neighbours in response to the latest series of U.S. strikes on Iran, further endangering a deal that was supposed to halt the war while negotiators seek a definitive agreement to end it.

Iran’s top ​joint military ‌command ⁠said on Saturday (June 20, 2026) that the Strait of ‌Hormuz would be ‌closed to ‌vessel ⁠traffic, ⁠citing alleged violations of a ceasefire agreement ​by ‌the U.S. and Israel, Iran’s Mehr state news ‌agency reported.

West Asia war LIVE updates – June 20, 2026

“It is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic,” Khatam al-Anbiya Central ​Headquarters said in a statement. It cited a U.S. “breach of contract” and “the Zionist regime’s continuous and relentless violation of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon”.

It ​said that the closure ⁠was the “first step” in ‌response to what it described as breaches of commitments and ‌warned that further measures ​would be taken if “aggression” ⁠continued.

The strait, an important conduit for oil and gas shipments, was blockaded by Iran for much of the war, sending shockwaves through global energy markets.

Iran had agreed to reopen it under the preliminary agreement with the US, and shipping traffic was starting to pick back up in recent days.

Follow-up talks on the U.S.-Iran deal had been planned in Switzerland on Friday (June 19), but were indefinitely postponed as Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes in Lebanon after four of its soldiers were killed in combat.

On Friday afternoon 9June 29, 2026), a U.S. official announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brokered by U.S. and Qatari mediators, with Israel’s ambassador to Washington saying it would respect the truce if Hezbollah did.

But on Saturday (June 20, 2026), an Israeli military official said it was conducting fresh attacks against the Iran-backed movement, which it accused of having “launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon” overnight.

Hezbollah said Israel had carried out “under the cover of the ceasefire… an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills”, a strategic feature overlooking the city of Nabatieh, adding its fighters “confronted them with appropriate weapons”.

With AFP, Reuters inputs

Iran’s top security body announced on Monday (May 18, 2026) 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.”

Read More : Iran-Israel war LIVE updates

The account of the Revolutionary Guards navy shared the same post.

It was not immediately clear what the new body would do but earlier this month Iranian English-speaking broadcaster Press TV said it constituted a “system to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz” and that ships passing through the strait were sent “regulations” from the email info@pgsa.ir.

Iran has largely blocked shipping through the vital strait since the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel on February 28. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8.

Iran’s grip over the waterway has rattled global markets and given Tehran significant leverage, while the United States has imposed its own naval blockade on Iranian ports.

In peacetime, the route accounts for roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, along with other key commodities including fertiliser.

Since the war began, Iran has repeatedly said that maritime traffic through the strait would “not return to its pre-war status” and last month it said it had received the first revenue from tolls on the waterway.

On Saturday (May 16, 2026), Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, said Iran “has prepared a professional mechanism to manage traffic” through the strait, adding that it will be “unveiled soon””.

Targeting commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is “unacceptable”, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish has said, stressing that international law governing safe passage must be “fully respected”.

Mr. Harish’s remarks at a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) on safeguarding energy and supply flows came days after an India-flagged commercial vessel came under attack off the coast of Oman.

Omani authorities rescued all 14 crew members of the vessel sailing from Somalia, but it was not immediately known who carried out the strike.

In a post on X, Mr. Harish said that at the UNECOSOC meeting, he shared India’s approach to the recent energy and fertiliser crisis caused by the West Asia conflict.

“A combination of short-term and structural measures alongside international cooperation are essential to respond to the crisis,” he said.

“Reiterated that targeting of commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, are unacceptable. International law in this regard must be fully respected,” he added.

The attack on the India-flagged vessel on May 13 took place amid the fragile situation in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway close to the coast of Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass.

It has been severely disrupted by the conflict in West Asia that started on February 28, with the U.S. and Israel launching joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes.

Earlier, India had described the attack as “unacceptable”.

At least two other Indian-flagged ships have been attacked since the conflict broke out.

The United States attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship it said had tried to evade its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday (April 19, 2026), and Iran’s joint military command vowed to respond, throwing a fragile ceasefire into question days before it expires.

It was the first interception since the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports began last week. Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a ceasefire violation, the state broadcaster said.

Iran’s “valiant navy” is “ready to inflict new bitter defeats on its enemies,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said.

Mr. Khamenei sent the defiant message on Saturday (April 18, 2026) as Iran swiftly reimposed restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz.

The leaders of ​the G7 group of nations — ‌the United States, Canada, ​Japan, Italy, ⁠Britain, Germany and France — agreed to examine the option ‌of providing escort for ships so ‌they can navigate ‌freely ⁠in the ⁠Gulf, said a statement from the G7 Presidency on ​Wednesday (March 11, 2026).

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The statement ‌was issued after French President Emmanuel Macron had convened a call ‌with G7 leaders ​to discuss the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran ⁠and its impact on rising energy prices.

“In ‌this regard, a working group has been set up to explore the possibility of escorting ‌ships when the right ​security conditions are in place, and this ⁠will also come along ⁠with approaches made to shipping companies, transport ‌companies and insurers,” said the statement