'Impact on Korean vessels is direct,' analyst warns

Ambiguous Hormuz MOU seen as trigger for renewed clashes

US media: Washington and Tehran agree to halt attacks

The Strait of Hormuz [AP]
The Strait of Hormuz [AP]

Military tensions are rising again as the United States and Iran exchange retaliatory strikes following Iran's attack on a merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The escalation has raised concerns about the fate of three South Korean ships still in the waterway.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz warned Saturday that American forces would continue military operations against Iran if it persisted in attacking merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a Fox News interview that day, Waltz said: "If the Iranian regime thinks for one second that President (Donald) Trump is going to sit back and watch them continue to attack international shipping or our bases without responding, they are sadly mistaken."

Waltz's remarks echoed a threat Trump made the previous day on social media, where the president signaled the possible resumption of large-scale military operations in response to Iran's repeated attacks on merchant ships passing through the strait and on US military bases in the Middle East — warning that if such operations were launched, "Iran will no longer exist."

Waltz added that oil-producing nations in the Middle East were developing alternative crude export routes to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, and that the US was also tightening security at its regional bases. "Iran's leverage is shrinking and ours is growing," he said. "It would be wise for Iran to take a diplomatic solution and step back from its obsession with nuclear weapons."

The two sides' sharp reversal into confrontation less than 10 days after signing a memorandum of understanding stems from a dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz. On June 25, Iran attacked the civilian vessel Ever Lovely with a drone as it sailed along a US-led route via Oman, declaring that "all responsibility for the consequences lies with any vessel that attempts to transit the strait without our permission or outside the designated route." The US, claiming Iran had violated the agreement, struck Iranian missile and drone storage facilities and coastal radar stations. Iran then struck back, attacking the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Kiku.

CNN and the AP analyzed that "the ambiguous end-of-hostilities MOU on the Strait of Hormuz provided the pretext for the clash." Critics noted that the MOU contained language appearing to tacitly recognize Iranian control over the strait — including a provision to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for 60 days while substantive negotiations, including on the nuclear issue, proceeded, and a clause calling for Iran and Oman to establish a "future management framework" for the waterway.

Yoo Ji-hoon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said that while neither side appeared to want an all-out war, "the credibility of the truce has been severely undermined by repeated cycles of limited retaliation and counter-retaliation." He added: "The impact on Korean vessels is direct. South Korea needs to focus on protecting its citizens and ships and managing its economic security, rather than on military involvement."

Meanwhile, a US online outlet reported Sunday that Washington and Tehran had agreed to halt attacks on each other after days of exchanging airstrikes following Iran's assault on merchant ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Axios cited a senior US official as saying, "We have decided to halt all kinetic military operations." The US and Iran plan to meet in Doha, Qatar, on Monday to attempt to resolve the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz — a shift in venue to the Middle East and a narrowing of the agenda to focus on the strait, according to the outlet.


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