Tehran: Iran said it has closed the Strait of Hormuz for shipping transit due to what it called a violation of the ceasefire by Israel, even as it dispatched a negotiating team to Switzerland for prospective peace talks with the US.
Iran’s joint military command said the closure is Iran’s first step in response to Israel’s continued attacks in southern Lebanon, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.
The start of negotiations over a permanent peace deal with the US had previously been delayed after the fighting in Lebanon intensified. The talks, which were meant to take place in Switzerland on Friday, were pushed off because of those clashes between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Iran insisted on a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of the interim peace deal finalised with the US this week, and delayed sending a delegation to the talks as a result of the fresh hostilities. On Saturday, Iranian state TV reported that officials were travelling to Switzerland for talks with the US.
Vice President J.D. Vance, who had originally planned to be in Switzerland on Friday, is still in Washington. Speaking Saturday on Fox News, he said he expects to be able to travel there in “the next couple of days.” “I am very confident we can maintain the ceasefire,” he said. “We’re going to give this negotiation a chance.”
Vance, speaking just as Tasnim reported the latest closure of Hormuz, also said the US hasn’t seen any evidence that Iran was still closing down the strait.
Shipping has been crossing Hormuz using two routes in recent weeks: one by the coast of Iran and another to the south of the waterway by the Omani coast. Iran said in guidance to shippers this week that no ship would cross the waterway without its permission. The middle section between those two routes is believed to have been mined during the war.
Still, even before the US-Iran ceasefire, ships carrying millions of barrels a day of oil were quietly escaping using the Omani route by transiting at night with their satellite signals turned off. In recent days vessels appeared to transit Hormuz using both routes, including earlier on Saturday.
It’s unclear if Iran’s declaration on Saturday would jeopardise traffic using the southern route, but it will likely make more risk-averse shipowners with vessels that have been trapped inside Hormuz for months more wary of doing so. Earlier in the day western naval forces had said vessels using that corridor could cross Hormuz at any time with their satellite signals either on or off.
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