Tehran has maintained its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing United States-Israeli war on Iran, declaring the waterway closed to the US and its allies while granting rare passage exceptions to specific nations.
The blockade has triggered a dramatic spike in global energy costs, with Brent crude rising to $105.70 per barrel on Monday – a surge of more than 40 per cent since the conflict began on 28 February, reports Al Jazeera.
The strait is a critical chokepoint handling one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments. On 2 March, Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), warned that the IRGC and the navy would set ships ablaze if they attempted to cross without authorisation.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the US television network CBS on Sunday that while Tehran has been approached by numerous countries seeking safe passage, the final decisions rest with the military. He confirmed that a group of vessels from different countries has already been permitted to pass.
Several nations have successfully negotiated transit for their vessels. Bloomberg News reported that a Pakistani-flagged Aframax tanker, the Karachi, sailed out of the Gulf through the strait on Sunday.
Iranian Ambassador to India Mohammad Fathali confirmed that Tehran allowed some Indian vessels through as a rare exception, and Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, stated that two Indian-flagged tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas reached western Indian ports safely on Saturday.
Additionally, Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced on Friday that one Turkish-owned ship was granted permission to pass after it had utilised an Iranian port, though fifteen such ships had been waiting.
China, which receives 45 per cent of its oil via the strait, is currently in talks with Tehran to secure safe passage for crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas carriers. Diplomatic sources indicate Beijing is unhappy with the shipping paralysis and is pressing for safe passage. Furthermore, France and Italy are understood to have requested talks regarding their own vessels.
US President Donald Trump has proposed a naval coalition to secure the waterway, calling on the UK, China, France, Japan, and South Korea to deploy warships against what he termed an artificial constraint by a nation that has been totally decapitated. However, the countries mentioned have made no promises to join such an operation.
Several nations have explicitly ruled out military intervention. On Monday, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that the UK will not be drawn into the wider war despite pressure from the Trump administration. Government spokespeople for Germany and Greece also confirmed their countries would not participate in any military effort to keep the strait open.
Rodger Shanahan, a Middle East security analyst, told Al Jazeera that US allies are unlikely to join such a coalition because many opposed the war from the outset. He also noted the practical difficulty of the proposal, stating that organising a naval coalition cannot be done on the fly.
