Iran said on Thursday that it had designated alternative routes for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, citing concerns over sea mines in the main shipping channel.
The move comes as Tehran agreed to temporarily reopen the critical waterway through which roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies pass under a two-week truce.
“All ships intending to transit the Strait of Hormuz are hereby notified that in order to comply with the principles of maritime safety and to be protected from possible collisions with sea mines…they should take alternative routes for traffic in the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement quoted by local media.
The statement shared instructions for an alternative entry and exit route through the strait.
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, less than an hour before US President Donald Trump’s deadline to obliterate the Islamic republic if it did not bow to his demands for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran had effectively blocked the key shipping route since early March, sending global energy prices spiralling.
