Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Hours after reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran accused the United States of violating the agreement and, on Saturday, reimposed restrictions on the vessels’ passage through the critical chokepoint, the media reported.
Iran’s joint military command said on Saturday that its “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.”
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with Washington, including on its nuclear programme.
Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway after the US said the Iranian move would not end its blockade.
Iran warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The US-Iran conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices started falling again on Friday on hopes the US and Iran were drawing closer to a deal. Nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait, and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.
Iran’s control over the strait became the main point of its leverage and prompted the US to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Tehran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war raging between Israel, the US and Iran, which affected the entire West Asia, in particular, and world, in general.
Earlier, Iran had said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group based in Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said this violated last week’s ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US and warned the strait would not stay open if the US blockade remained in effect.
According to a data firm, Kpler, the vessel movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran’s approval.
American forces have sent 21 ships back towards Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Ceasefire in Lebanon
The US-brokered, almost one-sided Israeli ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah itself would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating, and which would leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of Southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in ‘self-defense.’
Shortly before Trump’s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah was incomplete.
He claimed that Israel had destroyed about 90 percent of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles and that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the Iranian proxy terror group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of Southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of violating last week’s ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that the US-Iran deal did not extend to Lebanon.
The fighting since February 28 has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel, and over a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
Air space
Iran on Saturday also announced a partial reopening of its airspace after a seven-week hiatus because of the ongoing war, state media reported.
The Civil Aviation Organization said air routes over eastern Iran were reopened at 7 am (0330 GMT), according to the state-owned IRAN newspaper. It said flights at the country’s airports would gradually resume, but did not give a timeframe, according to media reports.
Iran’s airspace had been closed since the US and Israel began striking Iran on February 28. The partial reopening came more than a week into a ceasefire between Iran and the US.
Comments are closed.