New Delhi, July 30 -- TEHRAN - Three tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz this week and did not complete the transit without interference. Iranian naval forces stopped them. On Tuesday, the army chief of staff made clear this was Iran's stated policy, not a patrol anomaly.

Habibollah Sayyari, Iran's Army Chief of Staff, declared through state media that "no movements in the Strait of Hormuz will be carried out without the permission of the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," Sputnik International reported. The statement, delivered as Iran and the United States exchanged strikes in the region, drew the clearest line Tehran has yet placed around the world's most critical oil chokepoint since the current conflict...