Iran Insists On Right To Control Shipping In Strait Of Hormuz After Ship Hit Near Oman

DUBAI/LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) – Iran reasserted its right to control shipping in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday and warned Gulf states not to side with the United States, after an attack on a ship near Oman revealed the fragility of a preliminary agreement to end the Iran war.

Tehran responded to the “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative” joint statement of the United States and six Gulf countries rejecting Iran’s insistence that it could collect transit fees from ships passing through the strait.

“Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed with vague regulations, parallel routes or decision-making processes that do not take into account Iran’s role as a coastal state,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Garibabadi told X.

Oil prices fell further on Friday despite conflicting comments on last week’s interim deal between Iran and the United States and a slowdown in traffic through the strait, through which one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass.

Saudi Aramco resumed crude oil shipments from its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf, the world’s largest oil port, on Friday after a nearly four-month halt, shipping data showed.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – as he wraps up a Gulf tour to reassure tense regional allies about the interim deal – told reporters on Thursday that if Iran threatens or blocks ships in the strait, “we’re going to have a problem.”

In their joint statement, Rubio and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called for “free, unconditional and unrestricted navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz without tolls or “attempts to assert control” and said a lasting peace must be about Iran’s ballistic missiles, drones and support for proxy groups.

Iran’s foreign ministry responded on Friday by saying the US military presence in the Gulf was a source of regional insecurity and division and said the strait should be managed by Tehran and Oman in accordance with the terms of the interim agreement.

The statement said, “We warn against the continuation of hostile and interventionist policies in the region.”

Tehran took effective control of the waterway after US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28 triggered war, disrupted oil flows and shook global energy markets and the economy.

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine said on Friday that its Singapore-flagged ship Ever Lovely was hit by an “unknown object” near Oman on Thursday while on a route recommended by British naval agency UKMTO.

While no one was injured in the incident, the ship then continued its journey out of the Bosphorus.

Two US officials told Reuters that Iran opened fire on the ship, while Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, established by Tehran to manage requests for ships to pass through the strait, said passage through unauthorized routes would be “the responsibility of the ship owner, operator and ship commander”.

There was no immediate comment from the US government. US President Donald Trump warned earlier this month that if Iran did not comply with the interim agreement, including reopening the strait, the US would likely return to bombing the country.

Besides the issue of control of the strait, disagreements remain over other elements of the framework ceasefire agreement, including financial incentives for Iran, nuclear inspections and Israel’s parallel war in Lebanon.

The agreement opened 60 days of negotiations to resolve more challenging issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.

In the US, the war is placing a heavy burden on Trump ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

The International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, temporarily suspended the operation to escort ships in the Strait of Hormuz following the Oman incident.

IMO and Oman’s announcement earlier this week of a new southern route through the strait to evacuate hundreds of ships stranded in war angered Tehran.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that three South Korean ships will leave the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, after the Ocean Ministry reported that eight more South Korean ships had left.

Two Very Large Crude Carriers controlled by Saudi Arabia’s shipping arm Bahri were seen loading crude oil at Ras Tanura while another was waiting nearby, shipping data showed. Each VLCC can load 2 million barrels of oil.

Ras Tanura is located on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast in the Gulf and is west of the Strait of Hormuz. Before the conflict, it was exporting more than 5 million barrels of crude oil per day.

(Additional reporting by Gram Slattery in Manama; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Aidan Lewis)