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DUBAI: Iran said it will announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf in \u200bthe coming days, along with maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, as a weekend exchange of strikes on shipping sent oil prices higher on Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n The \u200cnew restricted zone will begin from where the U.S. blockade of Iran begins and extend into areas of the Gulf, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday in an interview with state TV.<\/p>\n Few details were provided on the plan, but Rezaei said any ship entering the new zone would be added to a sanctions list.<\/p>\n In addition, maps detailing passage routes for the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit largely closed to tanker traffic, would also be approved soon, Rezaei said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe maps of a \u200bnew international corridor which lies in Iranian and Omani waters and in which Iran will have management have been agreed and should be signed in the coming days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will only commit \u200bto the Strait of Hormuz being open when they (the Americans) stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran,\u201d Rezaei added.<\/p>\n Six months after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked the \u2060war, the conflict appears to be at a stalemate. A preliminary ceasefire accord reached in June has unravelled, and little progress has been made in diplomatic efforts to get the peace process back on track.<\/p>\n After a \u200bpause in military action for much of August, tit-for-tat strikes have resumed. U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, U.S. Central Command said, including one off Kharg Island, Iran\u2019s key oil export hub, following attacks by \u200bIran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on U.S. warships in the region.<\/p>\n Tehran has shown it retains the capability to attack U.S. interests in neighbouring countries and to shut down oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil supplies flowed prior to the conflict.<\/p>\n An average of 10 commodity ships transited the Strait per day in the past 10 days, the lowest since May, according to shipping data on Monday. That helped oil prices extend last week\u2019s big gains, with Brent crude up 0.8% \u200babove $97 a barrel.<\/p>\n SANCTIONS, OIL BLOCKADE SQUEEZE ECONOMY<\/strong><\/p>\n Iran has said it will step up efforts to tackle problems created by U.S. sanctions that are crippling its economy.<\/p>\n However, the U.S. campaign to throttle Iran\u2019s economy by blockading its oil \u200bexports and stopping sanctions evasion is growing increasingly difficult to withstand, three senior Iranian sources have said.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that the U.S. should understand that the rules of the game have changed \u201cbefore it is too \u200clate\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom now on, \u2060any attack against Iran\u2019s interests and security will receive a faster, heavier and more painful response,\u201d he said in a speech published on his Telegram channel.<\/p>\n Qalibaf said that alongside the military front, Iran\u2019s main battle was now over production and people\u2019s livelihoods.<\/p>\n He cited sharp currency fluctuations, inflation, unemployment and market management as major challenges, adding Iranians could tolerate hardship but not mismanagement or inaction and expected the government to act quickly.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Tehran planned to respond to U.S. economic pressure with reforms and rejected the notion that sanctions would cause it to change course, according to state media on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cThey speak of economic pressure and isolation, of breaking \u200boff financial ties and they think that by pressuring \u200bthe economy of a country they can change \u2060the decisions of its people,\u201d Madanizadeh said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to clarify one point: The responsibility of reforming Iran\u2019s economy is with its government and people, not with the U.S. Treasury.\u201d<\/p>\n KHARG ISLAND HIT 550 TIMES IN PRIOR MONTHS, IRAN SAYS<\/strong><\/p>\n Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90% of its \u200bcrude via its Kharg Island export hub before the war. Flows have been disrupted since a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.<\/p>\n U.S. Central Command \u200bsaid on X that as \u2060of Sunday it had redirected 92 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two to ensure strict compliance with its blockade.<\/p>\n On August 31, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video depicting Kharg Island being \u201cblown to smithereens.\u201d Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked.<\/p>\n In an interview aired on state TV on Sunday, Iran\u2019s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said the island had been hit around 550 times in previous months \u2060but continued to \u200boperate.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up fuel prices, weighing on Trump\u2019s popularity as his Republican Party heads into \u200belections in November when control of Congress is at stake.<\/p>\n However, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said oil was getting through the waterway.<\/p>\n \u201cOur transits through the Strait are averaging over 9 million barrels a day now, and with the access pipelines that go around the strait, \u200bwe\u2019re probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows. So Iranians are still causing trouble, but the United States Navy is winning that battle,\u201d he told CNN.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n