US Launches Task Force Iron Gate to Block Iran's Land Supply Routes

The United States military's Central Command has announced a plan to block Iran's land-based supply routes, widening a naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz that has been in place for months.

CENTCOM, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said on Saturday that it had set up a new task force "to prevent Iran from using ground routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials".

The unit, named Task Force Iron Gate, will reinforce "the success of our ironclad blockade against Iran at sea", CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said.

According to CENTCOM, the task force will be based in Tampa, Florida, and will coordinate with other US government agencies "on preventing the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue streams across Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea".

Michael Mulroy, a former US deputy assistant defence secretary for the Middle East, told Al Jazeera the task force's role will be to determine where "weapons systems are coming in, how they could potentially be cut off", and how "Iran is transporting its energy".

Mulroy added that if US President Donald Trump orders an escalation of the war, it will most likely involve strikes on this "series of targets". "Unlike Operation Epic Fury, which primarily focuses on military targets, I think these targets will be focused on economic and infrastructure targets, as part of this comprehensive plan to cut the regime off from its ability to fight and ability to fund itself," he said.

In a separate announcement on Saturday, CENTCOM said it had disabled a commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman as part of the blockade. A US "military aircraft fired precision munitions at the stern of St. Kitts-flagged M/V Huda, disabling the ship after CENTCOM forces directed the crew to abandon targeted spaces", the statement said.

CENTCOM added that enforcement actions since July have led US forces to redirect 147 commercial vessels that complied with orders, while five merchant ships that refused to comply have been disabled.

Explosions were also reported inside Iran on Saturday. The country's official news agency IRNA reported the sound of two explosions on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as "several explosions" in the cities of Jask, Sirik and Bandar Abbas. Trump had confirmed new strikes on Qeshm Island a day earlier, describing them as "minor", and said Tehran still wants a deal as Qatari-mediated talks continue.

Meanwhile, the navy of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that two oil tankers struck mines near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Iranian state television, citing the navy, said the tankers had passed through an "unsafe" part of the strait with their navigation systems switched off, and that they "suffered severe damage and stopped after hitting sea mines".