Iran doubled down on Friday on its claim to being a central authority in managing marine traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a day after its forces struck a container vessel there, temporarily halting shipping through the critical waterway.
The attack on the Ever Lovely, a container ship that was passing near the Omani side of the strait, has underscored a central ambiguity in the preliminary peace agreement between Washington and Tehran. Although President Trump has declared the waterway open to unrestricted navigation, the accord does not clearly state who has the authority to regulate passage.
Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, carried on state media, that the strait lay within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, and it cited a provision of the U.S.-Iran deal that calls on Tehran to arrange safe passage for commercial vessels.
The Thursday strike on the container ship came hours after Iran, demonstrating its hold over the strait, warned that the only route through the vital pathway for oil and natural gas was through its waters. Many ships, like the Ever Lovely, had been using a route on the southern side of the strait, hugging the Omani coast.
“Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is not guaranteed under vague arrangements, parallel routing systems or decision-making processes that exclude Iran as a coastal state,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, wrote on social media on Friday.
The White House has not commented on the attack Thursday. It came shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio left the Persian Gulf, where he had met with foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council.
In a joint declaration after the meeting, the United States and the Gulf countries in that organization called for “free, unconditional and unrestricted navigation” through the strait and rejected tolls, fees or attempts by any country to assert control over the waterway.
The attack prompted the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, to suspend an effort to help hundreds of stranded vessels leave the Persian Gulf. At least two tankers turned around after Iran’s warning earlier that day, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, while the number of ships passing through the strait fell to 54 on Thursday from 73 a day earlier, according to Kpler, a maritime data firm.
Oil markets largely shrugged off the escalation. Prices rose after the strike on Thursday, but they fell on Friday as the continued movement of tankers appeared to ease concerns about supply disruptions. Brent crude, the global benchmark, dropped to roughly $73 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fell to between $69 and $70.
Jenny Gross and Leily Nikounazar contributed reporting.
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