The new leader of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said Sunday that the country plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz that will target vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.

Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said more details about the new zone will be released in the coming days and weeks along with the formal announcement, according to the Associated Press.

"[The zone] will begin from the line of the U.S. naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf,” Rezaei told Iran's state broadcaster. “Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list.”

The zone comes amid an escalation in the war in the Middle East. American forces struck three Iranian crude oil tankers on Saturday, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward two United States Navy warships operating in regional waters.

United States Central Command said a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple Iranian attacks and no American personnel were injured.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.