Iran allows no vessels to cross Hormuz without its permission

Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Thursday that no commercial vessel or oil tanker has been, or will be, able to cross the Strait of Hormuz safely without the Iranian armed forces' permission and supervision.

In a video message carried by Iranian media, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the headquarters' spokesman, said that, as in the past, the Strait of Hormuz is under Iran's full control and management, dismissing the United States' claims about vessels' normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz as "false and nothing but lies."

He added the U.S. "false" claims are indicative of its army's "desperation and helplessness," stressing that the U.S. leaders and army have well tested the Iranian armed forces' "power and resistance."

Zolfaghari stressed that Iran's armed forces are monitoring all movements by the United States and Israel in the region and will not hesitate to defend the Iranian people's rights as well as the country's national sovereignty and aspirations and will respond to any threat.

His remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on social media that the United States maintains "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz on Feb 28, barring safe passage of vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following their joint strikes on Iranian territory.

Iran allows no vessels to cross Hormuz without its permission

Filipino demonstrators gathered outside the Japanese embassy in Manila, the Philippine's capital, on Friday to commemorate the victims of Japan's wartime military sexual slavery, commonly referred to as "comfort women," seeking justice for these victims, and opposing war and military expansion.

The protesters, including family members of sexual slavery victims and civil society members, urged the Philippine government to expedite the passage of a bill designating August 14 as the national Memorial Day for "Comfort Women."

In 2012, the 11th Asian Alliance Conference for "Comfort Women" designated August 14 as the International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women."

An estimated 200,000 women from China and many others from the Korean Peninsula, the Philippines, Indonesia and some other countries, euphemistically known as "comfort women", were forced into sexual servitude by Japanese troops. Many of them died.

During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1942 to 1945, an estimated 1,000 Filipino women were forcibly conscripted as "comfort women."

Protest in Manila commemorates victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery