Shipping traffic transiting the disputed waters of the Strait of Hormuz continued to flow at a faster pace Monday than before the U.S.-Iran talks opened in Switzerland to end the war.
The boost comes after reports surfaced Tehran had closed the vital waterway only for President Donald Trump to warn the Iranians, “You close it, and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to your fucking country.”
Clearly they heeded his blunt and very public caution even as they continued their negotiations.
“The latest figures suggest a cautious but visible rebound in traffic following the MoU (memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran), although the daily pattern remains volatile,” Mihail Todorov of AXSMarine, a shipping data provider, told AFP.
As of late afternoon local time, maritime tracking platforms had variously recorded 26 commercial transits by commodity ships navigating through one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints.
This level approached those of Thursday and Saturday, after the official signing of the agreement by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, when traffic was around 30 transits per day.
The U.S.-Iran deal is beneficial because it reopens the Strait of Hormuz and potentially creates conditions for broader regional peace and integration, as Breitbart News reported.
The AFP report notes traffic on Saturday hit the highest levels since the start of the war.
The Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed at the start of the war, reopened Friday after the U.S.-Iranian agreement was reached.
But Tehran announced on Saturday it had closed the strategic waterway again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, as Breitbart News reported.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) responded by stating Iran “does not control the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Traffic continues to flow, and U.S. forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case,” said CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins.
No one country owns the strait which borders both Iran and Oman.
Last week’s memorandum of understanding allowed Iran to manage it for now while negotiating with Oman and six other Gulf states “to define the future administration and maritime services” of the waterway.
Tehran also agreed not to charge transiting vessels tolls for 60 days.