Iran is set to unveil a new restricted zone in the Gulf in the coming days, alongside maps for a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, as tensions with the US continue to rise.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the restricted zone would begin where the US blockade of Iran starts and extend into areas of the Gulf.

It is understood ships entering the zone would be added to an Iranian sanctions list.

Rezaei also said maps for a new international corridor through Iranian and Omani waters had been agreed with Oman and would be signed in the coming days, with Iran to manage the proposed corridor.

“We will only commit to the Strait of Hormuz being open when they (the Americans) stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran,” Rezaei said.

The announcement follows a weekend escalation in attacks on shipping. The US said it struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it targeted three tankers using unauthorised routes through the Strait, as well as three US vessels elsewhere.

Shipping through Hormuz has fallen sharply, with an average of 10 commodity vessels crossing each day over the past 10 days, the lowest level since May, according to Kpler data. The Strait carried around a fifth of global oil supplies before the conflict.

Last week, US president Donald Trump suggested renaming the shipping route the ‘Trump Strait’, days after he declared the waterway “functional… despite the odd rocket or drone“.

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