Iranian authorities have announced the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz over Israel’s alleged violation of a ceasefire agreement and attacks on Lebanon.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command, in a statement on Saturday, announced that “Due to the blatant breach and violation by the United States of the first clause of the ceasefire agreement, and in response to the continuous and relentless violations of the ceasefire by the Zionist regime in southern Lebanon, the merciless killing and displacement of hundreds of thousands of oppressed people of this land, and also considering the failure of the Zionist occupying forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon, it is declared that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic.”

Following this statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy warned, “Do not approach the Strait of Hormuz; otherwise, your security will be jeopardized.”

This comes after Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon that have killed at least 32 people and left scores injured.

The Strait of Hormuz was opened last Sunday after over three months of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.

Since U.S.-Israeli forces launched Operation Epic Fury on Iran, killing the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, a crisis has erupted, causing massive disruption in the global oil market.

With Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow ocean passageway connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas is ferried, oil and gas prices have soared globally.