TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday that they had turned back three ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports linked to its "enemies".
"This morning, following the lies of the corrupt US president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was open, three container ships of different nationalities... were turned back after a warning from the IRGC Navy," the Guards said on their Sepah News website.
"The movement of any vessel 'to and from' ports of origin belonging to allies and supporters of the Zionist-American enemies, to any destination and through any corridor, is prohibited," it added.
The energy market intelligence firm Kpler said Friday it had identified two container ships belonging to Chinese firm COSCO that had attempted to cross the narrow waterway off the coast of Iran, but had turned around.
It said the two vessels had been stuck in the Gulf since the start of the war, sparked by US and Israeli attacks on February 28.
"This marks the first such crossing attempt by a major carrier since the beginning of the conflict," data analyst Rebecca Gerdes at Kpler said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "present" to show it was serious about negotiations to end the war.