Iran asserts control over Strait of Hormuz after ship attack

Iran asserted on Friday that it has the right to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a day after a container ship was struck near Oman’s shore. Tehran said safe passage through the waterway could not be guaranteed under “ambiguous arrangements” or routes that did not take Iran’s role as a coastal state into account.

Three foreign tankers attempting an “unauthorised passage” were turned back by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s state TV said later. Iran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority stated that ships using routes outside its designated lanes would not be covered by any guarantee of safe passage.

The United States and six Gulf states rejected Iran’s insistence that it could charge tolls on vessels crossing the strait. In a joint declaration after a June 25 ministerial meeting in Manama, Bahrain, the governments called for “free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation” and rejected “any tolls, fees, or attempts to assert control” over the waterway. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the issue central to regional security, warning that if Iran threatened or blocked ships, “we’re going to have a problem.”

The Singapore-flagged container ship Ever Lovely was struck by an unknown projectile or drone near Dahit, Oman, southeast of Oman’s port. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center recorded damage to the bridge, but there were no casualties or environmental damage. The vessel was not part of an evacuation effort that the International Maritime Organization had begun on June 23 to move about 600 ships and roughly 11,000 mariners out of the Gulf through the strait. The IMO paused that operation pending renewed safety guarantees.

The Strait of Hormuz carries about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. Oil prices fell more than 3% on Friday even as shipping remained slower than normal.