Iran on July 20 declared that it would not allow the essential Hormuz Strait to be used by rivals to threaten the country's security, amid tensions between the US and Iran surrounding this waterway route.
We must not let this waterway be exploited again to threaten Iran's national security and interests," Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said at a press conference in Tehran, while saying that the country is "determined to take necessary measures" to protect sovereignty, AFP reported.
The Middle East situation continued to escalate on July 20 when Iran announced the expansion of retaliatory attacks targeting the US and its allies in the region, while many Arab countries and the international community increased calls for all parties to exercise restraint to prevent conflict from spreading.
According to the state news agency IRNA, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had conducted attacks with missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles targeting many US military targets.
The IRGC said it hit an early warning radar system, equipment depot and MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle storage facility at Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait. The force also confirmed that it attacked Jordan's Aqaba airport, destroying two US military aircraft and damaging several other aircraft, although the above information has not yet been confirmed by the US, Jordan or Kuwait.
Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC announced that it had damaged two oil tankers and had to stop operating after these ships passed through a sea route that Tehran considered unsafe. Iran insisted that it would continue to tightly control operations in this strait if US attacks on the country did not end.
