Hormuz appears set for reopening as US, Iran announce lifting blockades
New York: The Strait of Hormuz appeared on Wednesday to be set for opening following announcements by the US and Iran that the blockades on the waterway crucial to the global economy was being lifted.
After US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday evening he was pausing the blockade to see if an agreement with Iran can be reached, Iran’s military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Wednesday that it would allow ships to pass the Strait of Hormuz.
It claimed that the US threats had been “neutralised”.
Trump threatened earlier on Wednesday morning to resume bombing at “a much higher level and intensity than it was before” if it did not lift the blockade on the waterway crucial to the global economy.
Iran blocked the Strait through which about 20 per cent of global oil and gas pass through when Israel and the US began the bombing campaign against it on February 28.
The US imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports on April 13 when talks between negotiators of both countries collapsed.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump, however, also indicated that an agreement may have been reached and Iran has to stand by it.
He wrote that “assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption”, the Strait would be open to all, including Iran, and the Operation Epic Fury would end.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei was quoted shortly afterwards by ISNA news agency as saying that the latest US proposals were under considering and will be “finalising its considerations” and conveying them.
Iranian government’s PressTV reported that the IRGC said it was opening the Strait “now that threats from the US and the Israeli regime against Iran are subsiding”.
Trump is under pressure to end the conflict because of domestic pressures due to the rise in prices of petrol and diesel, which impacts other products, as the midterm elections for the control of Congress looms in six months.
His trip to Beijing for a summit with China’s President Xi Jinping is barely a week away, and China wants an end to the conflict and the Strait open.
Foreign Ministers Abbas Araghchi of Iran and Wang Yi of China met in Beijing on Wednesday and China conveyed to him that it was for negotiated settlement to end the conflict.
China’s news agency Xinhua said XI told him “sticking to negotiations is particularly important” and China was for a “comprehensive cessation of hostilites” without delay.
The standoff is also taking a toll on Iran, whose navy and air force have been “decimated” by the US, according to Trump.
But Iran has fired missiles in recent days against US ships and against the United Arab Emirates and Oman, the attacks on neighbours threatening to again to raise the level of tension.
Iran’s capacity to withstand a US blockade and a furious round of bombing is also tenuous.
PressTV quoting unnamed sources said that Iran was “introducing a new mechanism allowing ships to pass through designated corridors in the Strait of Hormuz”.
Under the scheme, ships would have email the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which would give them permission and designate the route.
The US may not like that level of control by Iran, even though Trump once offered to share control of it with Iran.
