Strait of Hormuz impasse: Iran warns seafarers amid US effort to escort stranded ships

By Nkiruka Nnorom with agency reports

Iranian authorities have warned that ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz must coordinate with them after the United States announced an effort to open the strait by escorting ‘stranded ship’ through the critical oil channel.

US, yesterday, kicked off an effort to guide stranded ships from the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz after President Donald Trump announced what he called “Project Freedom,” that would see US Navy help free up their ships, which are locked up in the strait. 

Trump’s new mission, which he announced on social media overnight, was the first apparent attempt to use naval power to unblock the world’s most important energy shipping route, creating a showdown at sea with Iran, which said no ships might pass without its permission.

Following Trump’s announcement, the Joint Maritime Information Center said the US had set up an enhanced security area south of typical shipping routes and urged mariners to coordinate closely with Omani authorities “due to anticipated high traffic volume.”

The centre warned that passing close to the usual routes, known as the traffic separation scheme, “should be considered extremely hazardous due to the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated.”

However, responding to the new Washington mission,  Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said at a briefing in Tehran: “Ships, their owners and shipping companies know well that to ensure their security and safety, they need to coordinate with relevant bodies in the Islamic Republic of Iran,”

Meanwhile, the warring sides issued contradictory statements yesterday about the impact of the new mission, with Iran saying that it struck US warship that tried to navigate the strait. 

“The frigate, which was sailing in violation of navigation and maritime safety rules near (the port of) Jask, was targeted by a missile attack after ignoring a warning from the Iranian navy,” Fars said, without citing a source.

“The American frigate that was hit was unable to continue its journey and was forced to turn back and flee the area,” the Iranian news agency reported.

But in a post on X, U.S. Central  Command said some of its Navy guided-missile destroyers were inside the Gulf supporting the operation, and that two U.S.-flagged merchant vessels had crossed the strait “and were safely headed on their journey”.

It did not identify either the warships or the merchant vessels or say when any of those crossings had taken place.

Iran denied any crossings had taken place, and there was no indication that Trump’s Project Freedom had led to a meaningful surge of shipping through the waterway.

There was reports of a South Korean ship that was hit by an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, while Iranian drones caused a fire at a UAE oil port, as Tehran demonstrated its grip on Middle East oil after .In the two months since the U.S launched an air war against Iran alongside Israel, Tehran has largely blocked the strait to ships apart from its own, causing the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history. 

Since last month, the United States imposed a separate blockade of ships leaving or entering Iranian ports.

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