Oil tankers and other vessels seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz must liaise with the Iranian military to ensure their safe passage, the country’s deputy foreign minister told ITV in a television interview.
“Each tanker and vessel should make necessary arrangements with Iranian authorities to securely pass,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said. There are “technical restraints” resulting from the conflict, such as mines, that require caution, he added.
While President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the 14-day ceasefire between the US and Iran depends on the reopening of Hormuz — and Tehran agreed that transit is possible — shipping through the critical maritime chokepoint remains largely halted. Oil futures rebounded toward $99 a barrel in London on Thursday, after plunging more than 13% on Wednesday.
Iran’s claim that Hormuz is open to approved vessels was countered by Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. “Conditional passage is not passage,” he said. “It is control by another name.”
Even if Tehran implements the arrangement, it could run into practical difficulties, requiring the roughly 130 vessels that had typically crossed Hormuz before the conflict to contact Iran and receive its approval.
“All the ships that would like to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, they have to communicate with our army and our military,” Khatibzadeh told ITV. “Anybody who communicates with Iranian authorities has got permission.”
Iran broadcast to maritime traffic on Wednesday that its permission is required to transit the sea corridor. Tehran has been charging some carriers a toll of as much as $2 million to transit.
Two fully laden Chinese oil tankers were waiting near the strait on Thursday, with a third on its way, putting them in a position to become the first such vessels to leave the Persian Gulf since the ceasefire began.
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