WASHINGTON: The US military has not yet escorted any commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the White House said on Tuesday, just after US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright deleted a post on X in which he had said the US Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the key waterway.

The US-Israel war against Iran has already effectively halted shipments through the Strait along Iran’s coast, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, and Middle East oil producers have run out of storage and stopped pumping.

US President Donald Trump said on March 3 that the US would provide protection through the Strait for oil tankers. The Pentagon on Tuesday renewed threats to hit Iran harder unless shipments can flow through and said it was striking Iranian mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities.

Wright then posted on X that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz “to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.”

Soon after, he deleted the post for reasons that were unclear.

The United States has not yet escorted any oil tankers or vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when asked about the issue at a press conference later on Tuesday.

Commenting on Wright’s remarks, a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards denied an oil ship had been escorted.

“Any movement of the US fleet and its allies will be stopped by our missiles and drones,” Ali Mohammad Naini said in comments carried by Iranian state media.

The top US general earlier on Tuesday said the US military has started looking at ways to potentially escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, should it be ordered to do so.

“We’re looking at a range of options there,” General Dan Caine told reporters at the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON: The US military has not yet escorted any commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the White House said on Tuesday, just after US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright deleted a post on X in which he had said the US Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the key waterway.

The US-Israel war against Iran has already effectively halted shipments through the Strait along Iran’s coast, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, and Middle East oil producers have run out of storage and stopped pumping.

US President Donald Trump said on March 3 that the US would provide protection through the Strait for oil tankers. The Pentagon on Tuesday renewed threats to hit Iran harder unless shipments can flow through and said it was striking Iranian mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities.

Wright then posted on X that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz “to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.”

Soon after, he deleted the post for reasons that were unclear.

The United States has not yet escorted any oil tankers or vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when asked about the issue at a press conference later on Tuesday.

Commenting on Wright’s remarks, a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards denied an oil ship had been escorted.

“Any movement of the US fleet and its allies will be stopped by our missiles and drones,” Ali Mohammad Naini said in comments carried by Iranian state media.

The top US general earlier on Tuesday said the US military has started looking at ways to potentially escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, should it be ordered to do so.

“We’re looking at a range of options there,” General Dan Caine told reporters at the Pentagon.

LONDON: A British-Indian man who attacked the Pakistan High Commission in London during last year’s India-Pakistan war says his home in the Belgravia neighbourhood was targeted with an explosive last week, days after his close friend and neighbour was found dead nearby.

Ankit Love, chief patron of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), said there was a loud explosion after the bedroom window of the flat where he lives with his Russian girlfriend was hit.

Neighbours and bystanders came out onto the street after hearing the blast.

Love was arrested on April 27, 2025, and charged with criminal damage for breaking windows at the Pakistan High Commission in London during protests following an escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan.

His close friend and neighbour, Lina Packeviciute, 43, was found dead at her home in Belgravia on March 2, 2026.

Speaking to Geo News, Love lamented her passing and questioned the suicide note that was sent from her email account on March 3, over 24 hours after she died. On the day she died, she was also booked on a flight to return to Vilnius, Lithuania, where her parents live. Love’s Russian girlfriend was Packeviciute’s best friend. Following a heated phone conversation with a person linked with Packeviciute, Love and his girlfriend were issued threats.

“Soon after the threats, we were attacked at around 10:30 PM, and our bedroom window was smashed broken. I have been receiving threats non-stop over the course of the last year. Only a week before, my chartered accountant female friend (Packeviciute) was found dead at her home in mysterious circumstances, in our neighbourhood. We were making plans together for joint business and charitable work to support conflict orphans in Kashmir,” Love told this reporter.

Belgravia is London’s embassy district, home to Buckingham Palace and residences linked to several foreign royal families, including Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar. 

Metropolitan police visited Love’s home to collect evidence and record statements from him and his Russian girlfriend.

Ankit Love said his parents — JKNPP founders Prof Bhim Singh and Jay Mala — both died under mysterious circumstances within a span of a year in 2022 and 2023. He said: “I have made many enemies from both India and Pakistan and possibly now Russia.”

Love was also arrested on February 14, 2022, for criminal damage to the Indian High Commission in London in protest of Prime Minister Modi’s marital curfew in Jammu and Kashmir, where over 4,000 people were detained, of which there were 300 elected political leaders, including his cousin Harsh Dev Singh, former education minister.

In relation to last year’s Pakistan High Commission attack, the British authorities have placed the additional charge of perversion of the course of justice against him, one that carries a maximum life sentence, and is as rare as murder in the UK. 

The prosecution says the additional charge has been brought in regard to the State Immunity Certificate that Love presented to Westminster Magistrates Court in 2025, during his trial for the Pakistan High Commission incident, but the prosecution says it’s fake. Love contends this and asserted in the Crown Court that” he holds a genuine certificate from the UK foreign minister”. The trial is scheduled for May 2029.