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.

Tehran on Thursday (July 16, 2026) accused the United States of carrying out a “barbaric attack” after a cancer hospital in Iran’s southwest was forced to evacuate due to nearby strikes.

“This barbaric attack, reminiscent of Israel’s atrocities against healthcare facilities, caused severe suffering and anxiety upon the hospitalised children,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X, saying “211 patients undergoing chemotherapy” were evacuated.

At the heart of the fighting is the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial to global oil and gas flows.

Iran blockaded Hormuz after the war erupted on February 28, using the waterway for leverage against its foes for months.

The strait was briefly reopened after the US-Iran deal last month, before Tehran vowed last week it would be closed again “until the US ends its aggression”.

The United States has also reimposed a blockade of Iran’s ports.