Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that they had turned back three ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports linked to its “enemies”.

“This morning, following the lies of the corrupt US president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was open, three container ships of different nationalities… were turned back after a warning from the IRGC Navy,” the Guards said on their Sepah News website.

“The movement of any vessel ‘to and from’ ports of origin belonging to allies and supporters of the Zionist-American enemies, to any destination and through any corridor, is prohibited,” it added.

The energy market intelligence firm Kpler said it had identified two container ships belonging to Chinese firm COSCO that had attempted to cross the narrow waterway off the coast of Iran, but had turned around.