Iran Warns Against Unauthorised Passage Through Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned against crossing the Strait of Hormuz without permission, cautioning that vessels failing to comply with the rules ‘will be dealt with’. The future of the strait, a vital route for global oil and natural gas shipments that Iran closed during the war with the United States and Israel, is a key point in negotiations between Tehran and Washington. Tehran says it plans to impose what it calls maritime service fees. The United States argues that the Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway and therefore should not be subject to charges. ‘The only official route for crossing the Strait of Hormuz is the one announced by the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ the IRGC said, according to AFP. Any unauthorised crossing ‘is unacceptable and highly dangerous’, the IRGC said in a statement. The IRGC also condemned what it described as new routes across the Strait of Hormuz announced by ‘certain authorities’, without elaborating. The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway between Iran and the Gulf states through which about 20 per cent of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes. At its narrowest point, it is only about 30 kilometres wide. The only route currently permitted by Iran is a corridor that follows the country’s coastline. A memorandum of understanding signed last week by Tehran and Washington to end their war stipulated that commercial vessels could cross the strait free of charge for 60 days. With Iran and the US still negotiating, it remains unclear what arrangements will apply after that 60-day period. Iran and Oman, which also borders the strait, announced on Tuesday that they would study a ‘fee’ to be charged for services related to the management of the strait. However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is visiting Gulf states this week, insisted that Washington would not accept any fees or levies.