Iran says it will draw an exclusion zone outside Hormuz. The details come later.

A day after the United States hit three Iranian crude carriers, Iran’s new national security chief told state television that Tehran will announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz for vessels it thinks are trying to pass. Mohsen Rezaei gave a line and almost no map: from the U.S. naval blockade toward the strait and into the Persian Gulf. Ships that enter with the intent to transit, he said, go on a sanctions list. When, and where the buoys sit, he left for “the coming days and weeks.”

Sunday, Iran said it had struck an unmanned American ship trying to enter the waterway. The U.S. military called that a total lie. The World desk files both sentences. The strait still moves a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil. Eleven hulls crossed on Sept. 5, one of them dark. That is traffic, not a corridor at peace.

CENTCOM’s Saturday ratio still stands: two missiles at U.S. ships, three Iranian tankers answered. Kharg Island has not been hit. Energy Secretary Chris Wright spent Sunday on American television telling viewers the pump is under control. AAA’s Labor Day print is $4.15. The exclusion zone, if it is real, is a fee by another name.

Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list.

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