Iranian general warns it can strike US warships enforcing blockade as Gulf confrontation escalates

Iran has warned that it has the capability to strike US Navy vessels enforcing Washington's blockade of Iranian shipping.

The marks an escalation in an already dangerous confrontation in the Arabian Gulf after a series of tit-for-tat attacks on military and commercial vessels.

Iran's acting defense minister, Brig. Gen. Majid Ibn Reza, said late on Monday that Iranian forces possess the ability to attack US warships enforcing what Tehran calls an "economic blockade", Press TV reported.

Press TV is an Iranian news and documentary network that broadcasts in the English and French-language.

Ibn Reza claimed the country's military capabilities as "sufficient" to target American naval forces.

The warning came two days after the US struck three Iranian crude-oil carriers following Iranian missile attacks on two US Navy vessels.

The exchange has pushed the conflict into a new phase in which Iran's oil exports, commercial tankers and U.S. naval forces enforcing the blockade are increasingly becoming interconnected military targets.

From blockade to direct attacks on warships

The latest escalation began Sept. 5, when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward two US Navy warships, according to US Central Command.

The American response was immediate.

CentCom said US forces struck three Iranian crude-oil carriers — one near Kharg Island, Iran's principal oil-export hub, another near Jask and a third in the Gulf of Oman.

Two vessels were permanently disabled and a third, which was unladen, was destroyed, according to the US military.

The strikes marked a significant escalation because Washington was no longer simply intercepting vessels attempting to evade its blockade.

It was attacking Iranian oil shipping after an Iranian attack on US naval forces.

Iran subsequently claimed its forces had targeted vessels that violated restrictions around Iranian waters. The two sides have traded competing accounts of the maritime clashes.

The latest warning from Tehran suggests Iran could broaden its targets beyond commercial shipping.

An Iranian parliament member on the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said Monday that US warships would have "no safe haven" in the region and warned that Iran would respond against American military assets and bases.

Iran has also warned that American and regional energy infrastructure could become vulnerable if Washington continues its campaign.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf (Qalibaf) said US energy infrastructure around the Gulf could face retaliation, while Tehran has signaled plans for additional restrictions around the Strait of Hormuz.

That raises the prospect of the conflict spreading from a US-Iran confrontation into a broader Gulf energy and shipping war.