Former US diplomat Joe Hood said that neither Washington nor Tehran is giving completely accurate information about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Hood said, “Donald Trump often says that this waterway is open. What he says is not completely correct. It is also not completely correct for Iran to say that they have closed it because of Tehran.”
According to Al Jazeera report, Hood said that Iran does not have the necessary means to completely close this waterway. “Hormuz is not like a highway where you put up a gate or put up a barrier to stop shipping,” he said. “To exert pressure, Iran threatens unarmed commercial ships and then fires missiles at them.”
Hood said some ships turn off their transponders when traveling at night and passing close to Oman’s coast. The US military tries to protect them with the resources it has. Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazim Gharibabadi said that despite the temporary transit agreement with Oman, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Before fully opening this waterway, Washington will have to fulfill its promises made under the MoU.
US President Trump says all mines in the strait’s international waters have been removed and destroyed and warns Tehran that any ships laying new mines will be destroyed. On the other hand, according to Vessel Tracking Service (TankerTracks.com), at least 20 cases of ship to ship (STS) transfer have been reported in the Gulf of Oman. STS transfer involves pumping cargo directly from one ship to another across the ocean. It is often used to disguise the origin of cargo or to avoid ports in areas with restrictions or high risk.
In a post on X, the company said it accounted for 25 million barrels of crude oil and other refined products coming from almost every country in the region except Iran. Tanker Trackers later reported that it had identified five more transfer cases, including one involving Iran’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The Gulf of Oman has become an important center for STS.