Iran said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets Tehran's seven conditions for reopening the vital waterway, as fresh attacks set tankers on fire and shipping through the strait fell to about 65 percent below pre-conflict levels.
Photo: U.S. Navy, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Washington must provide a "clear and explicit response" before the waterway can reopen, according to state news agency IRNA. Tehran has said it could reopen the strait within two days if Washington meets its conditions. Rezaei also said there are currently no negotiations taking place between Tehran and Washington, Reuters reported.
Tankers on fire in the strait
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that two oil tankers were on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran regularly targets ships that transit without its authorisation. Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said it received a report of a tanker being struck by an unknown projectile about 35 kilometres northeast of Lima in Oman, at 1338 GMT on Tuesday.
Iranian media also reported that Iranian forces targeted radar systems on Oman's Didamar Island in the strait, which Tehran claims were being used to guide shipping. Those reports could not be independently verified. Shipping through Hormuz, the conduit for much of the world's seaborne oil, is now running about 65 percent below pre-conflict levels, according to Gulf News.
A war that will not cool down
The war broke out in late February with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Tehran has blockaded the strait since the conflict began. The fighting has since spread across the Gulf: the Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday it intercepted a ballistic missile and a cruise missile fired by Yemen's Houthis towards Riyadh, and an ADNOC vessel was damaged in an attack in UAE waters earlier in the day. Gulf states have approved a joint military command headquarters in Kuwait as the war rages.
France's foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris that the risk of a new escalation between the United States and Iran "has not been completely ruled out." Oil markets eased on the day, with Brent crude down 3.15 percent at $89.65 a barrel, Reuters reported, after President Donald Trump downplayed the need for further military action against Iran.
What happens next
Trump said on Monday that the war is "militarily effectively over," but he also made clear that the American naval blockade of Iran stays in place. With no negotiations under way, according to Rezaei, and Tehran's conditions unmet, the strait — and the tanker war around it — looks set to stay shut, keeping oil markets, shipping and Gulf governments on edge.
Sources: Gulf News, Dawn, Reuters, Al Jazeera.