Iran threatened the United States with "economic warfare" on Tuesday and said it had fired an advanced missile at US warships, underscoring the risks of further escalation in the war only days after both sides traded blows again.The six-month-old war has been marked by a cycle of pauses followed by periodic flare-ups, with the US last reporting attacks on Iranian targets on Saturday, when US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers. Iranian state media on Sunday reported that Iran fired the Qassem Basir missile.
Despite US attempts to open up the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has continued to disrupt shipping through the critical artery for global oil and gas supplies, and there is no sign of progress towards a diplomatic breakthrough that could end the war which began with US and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.
The Islamic Republic has vowed to announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf in the coming days, along with maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, though it was unclear when details would emerge.
‘Maritime exclusion zone’
The new restricted zone would begin from where the US blockade of Iran begins and extend into areas of the Gulf, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television on Sunday, adding that any vessel entering the area would be placed on an Iranian sanctions list.
