US launches task force to disrupt Iran’s land supply routes | US-Israeli war against Iran

The operation aims to prevent Iran from using land routes to transport weapons and other materials, US Central Command said.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a plan to block Iran’s land supply routes, extending its months-long naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, announced Saturday that it had created a new task force “to prevent Iran from using land routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials.”

Task Force Iron Gate will reinforce “the success of our maritime blockade against Iran,” said CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper.

Based in Tampa, Florida, the task force will coordinate with other U.S. government agencies “to prevent the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue flows across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea,” CENTCOM said.

Michael Mulroy, former US assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, told Al Jazeera that the task force’s role will be to find out where “weapons systems come into play, how they could potentially be cut off” and how “Iran transports its energy.”

He added that if US President Donald Trump ordered an escalation to war, it would likely involve attacks on this “series of targets”.

“Unlike Operation Epic Fury, which focused primarily on military objectives, I believe these objectives will be focused on economic and infrastructural objectives, as part of this overall plan to cut off the regime from its ability to fight and finance itself,” Mulroy told Al Jazeera.

CENTCOM said Saturday it had neutralized a commercial cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman as part of its blockade of Iranian ports.

A “US military aircraft fired precision munitions at the stern of the St. Kitts-flagged M/V Huda, disabling the vessel after CENTCOM forces ordered the crew to abandon the targeted spaces,” it said in a statement.

“The coercive measures taken since July led American forces to redirect 147 commercial ships that complied” and to neutralize “five merchant ships that refused to comply,” the text adds.

Explosions reported

On Saturday, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported the sound of two explosions on the island of Qeshm, located in the Strait of Hormuz.

IRNA also reported the sound of “several explosions” in the towns of Jask, Sirik and Bandar Abbas.

Trump confirmed further strikes on Qeshm Island a day earlier, but downplayed them as “minor.” He added that Tehran still wanted to reach an agreement as talks continued under Qatar’s mediation.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy reported that two oil tankers hit mines near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.

Iranian state television, citing the navy, said the tankers had crossed a “dangerous” part of the strait with their navigation systems turned off. They “suffered serious damage and stopped after hitting sea mines.”