Barely hours after US President Donald Trump as well as Iranian Foreign Minister Abass Araghchi separately announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, the Iranian military high command has reversed the American and Persian Gulf nation’s decision.
The disclosure has sparked confusion over the actual situation of things in the vital waterway through which about a fifth of global oil shipping passes.
Announcement of the Strait’s reopening yesterday had instantly crashed global oil price by about 10%, with it plummeting to below $90 a barrel, with hopes high that energy supplies could resume after weeks of disruption.
The Iranian military announced that control of the Strait has “reverted to its previous state” following the continuing row with the US over the latter’s naval blockade of Iranian ports.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, the military’s operational command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, described the ongoing blockade as “piracy”, saying: “For this reason, control of the Strait of Hormuz has reverted to its previous state, and this strategic waterway is under the strict management and control of the armed forces.
“Until the US restores the complete freedom of navigation for vessels from an Iranian origin to a destination, and from a destination back to Iran, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain strictly controlled and in its previous state.”
Araghchi was on the Iran team that negotiated a ceasefire in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, in direct talks with the US team led by Vice President JD Vance.
Trump has often stated that the US is comfortable with regime change in Iran, a removal of the hardline clerical leadership, many of whom, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it, alongside Israel, has killed in the war which started 28 February this year.
Though he has not named his preferred leader of the envisaged new regime, Trump has suggested that some elements of Iran’s elected civilian leadership were mild,not relatively as hardline, and in America’s good books.
However, reports had pinpointed that while the war had resulted in the deaths of many of Iran’s hardline theocratic leaders, there remain elements in the Army and Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who are bent on defending the ideals of the 1979 Islamic Revolution which ushered in the country’s present system of governance, with their last blood.
Yesterday Iran and Trump announced the Strait had reopened to shipping, but the US President said the US blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with Washington, including over its nuclear programme.
*PHOTO CAPTION: File photo of a vessel on the Strait.
