Japan LNG tanker crosses Strait of Hormuz

The United States expelled Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations last year over national security concerns, Axios reported.

The report said the State Department asked diplomat Saadat Aghajani to leave in December under a quiet internal procedure often used in sensitive cases.

It said at least two other Iranian diplomats in New York were also expelled in recent months.

The State Department confirmed it had taken action regarding Iranian personnel but did not provide details, while Iran’s UN mission declined to comment.

A planned vote by the United Nations Security Council on a resolution on the Strait of Hormuz has been removed from the body’s schedule.

The vote, proposed by Bahrain, had been listed for Friday but no longer appears on the UN’s daily agenda.

No reason was given for the change and no new date has been announced.

A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday that Iran would continue backing its regional allies despite the ongoing conflict.

Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard said the Islamic Republic’s policy was to continue its current path and support the “axis of resistance,” a term used by Iran to describe allied groups opposed to Israel and US influence in the region.

“The policy of the Islamic Republic is to continue its previous path and support the axis of resistance against enemies, and this path will continue with strength,” he said.

He added that strengthening military capabilities was aimed at deterrence, not expansion, saying the goal was to prevent adversaries from attacking Iran on land, sea or air.

An Iranian army commander warned US forces they would face severe consequences after US officials threatened to push Iran “back to the Stone Age,” state media reported on Friday.

Ali Jahanshahi said US soldiers would be sent “not to the Stone Age, but to before that,” according to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

“The soil of Iran is the graveyard of aggressors; if you doubt it, test it,” he said, adding that army special forces were in full readiness.

A container ship linked to France has exited the Strait of Hormuz, in what appears to be the first such transit by a Western European-linked vessel since the war disrupted shipping, Bloomberg reported.

The CMA CGM Kribi sailed along the Iranian coast before emerging near Oman, according to ship-tracking data and people familiar with the matter.

Iran has tightened control over the strait since the US and Israeli strikes, allowing limited passage for selected vessels while warning others linked to its adversaries.

The waterway normally carries about a fifth of global oil and gas flows, but traffic has sharply declined since the conflict began.