Iran Exempts Ships From Four Countries From Hormuz Restrictions

Photo: Reuters via Al Jazeera

Iran has opened the Strait of Hormuz to ships from four countries, India, China, Iraq and Qatar, even as its wider restrictions stay in place. Tehran will charge transit fees to Indian and Chinese vessels, while Qatari ships pass free. The move is a careful piece of business by a country under sanctions and blockade, and it is tied to the talks on ending the war.

The announcement came from Amir Hayat Moqaddam, deputy chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. He told the Iranian Students' News Agency on Tuesday that ships from the four countries "pass freely, and the Americans do not intercept them either".

Each exemption has its own price. India is expected to supply medicine that Iran cannot make itself. China, which buys nearly 90 percent of Iran's oil exports, is expected to give political backing. Qatar, which is leading the mediation to end the war, already gives diplomatic support, and its ships cross without paying. It is not clear whether Iraqi ships pay a toll.

The strait matters because it is the world's most important oil chokepoint. About 10.23 million barrels of Gulf crude passed through it every day in October, and about 42 percent of that went to China and 13 percent to India, according to the analytics firm Kpler. Qatar shipped no liquefied natural gas through the strait in August, but managed 1.8 million tonnes in October.

The exemptions are not quite as new as they sound. Iran started letting some ships from friendly countries through within weeks of the war starting on 28 February, and Iraq was exempted in April. But this is the first time Tehran has set out the full list and the terms in public, and analysts say the message is aimed as much at Washington as at the shipping lines.

There are good reasons to be careful. The exemption has not kept ships safe. On 30 October, the Qatari LNG carrier Al Mayeda was struck by unidentified objects in the Gulf. Five tankers have now been hit in the strait since the war began, and October was the worst month so far, according to the International Maritime Organization and United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

Iran has insisted the strait stays shut to most shipping, while Trump has warned the US may have to destroy what is left of Iran as a decision on the war nears. Iraq, one of the four exempted countries, has told Trump it will not be a launch pad for attacks on Iran.

The United States has said its naval blockade, reimposed on Iran's southern ports in July, applies to all vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports, though food and medical supplies can pass after inspection. Ending the blockade is one of Tehran's demands before it will commit to wider peace talks, and the Qatar-mediated talks now centre on an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait if the US meets seven conditions, including this and lifting sanctions.

For Pakistan, and for anyone who buys fuel, the strait is the reason petrol prices jump when the Gulf heats up. Pakistan buys much of its oil from the Gulf, so a blocked strait pushes up fuel prices at home. If these exemptions hold, more oil keeps moving and prices stay calmer. But the deal only works if Washington accepts it, and the American reaction will show whether this is a real opening or just a short pause in a war that is still going.

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Why is Iran exempting India, China, Qatar, Iraq from Hormuz restrictions?
• News18: Hormuz blockade, Iran gives India, China, Iraq and Qatar special passage exemption
• The Week: Iran to let Indian and Chinese ships pass through Strait of Hormuz
• The Economic Times: Iran lifts Hormuz transit curbs for ships from India, China, Iraq and Qatar

All eyes are now on Washington, and whether it accepts the exemptions or treats them as a challenge to the blockade.

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