US expects to end operation in weeks, says Marco Rubio; G7 foreign ministers call for attacks on civilians to stop, toll-free navigation in Strait of Hormuz; Israel attacks Iranian nuclear facilities
Despite Iran’s assurances that Chinese ships would be allowed to pass, two Chinese container ships that tried to pass through the Strait of Hormuz were turned back.
Chinese COSCO, the operator of CSCL Arctic Ocean and CSCL Indian Ocean, said earlier this week that it had restarted general cargo container reservations for shipments from Asia to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.
While this was the first passage since the start of the war that a major shipping group had attempted to pass through the troubled shipping artery, the ships’ return to the Persian Gulf showed “safe passage is not guaranteed”, analyst Rebecca Gerdes of ship tracking site Kpler told Reuters.
On Wednesday, Tehran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in a post on channel X that Iran “allows friendly countries such as China, Russia, India, Iraq and Pakistan to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”
According to data on the LSEG platform on Friday, both ships posted messages on their AIS ship tracking systems indicating that they had Chinese owners and crew.
via Reuters
