The Strait is only 34 kilometres wide between Iran and Oman at its narrowest point.
The Strait of Hormuz may not return to a pre-war reality of free passage despite a fragile ceasefire as Iran wishes to establish “ownership” over the critical maritime chokepoint.
Tehran is planning to allow passage to no more than 15 vessels a day through the Strait of Hormuz under the ceasefire agreement agreed with the United States (US), according to a Reuters report quoting Russia’s state TASS news agency.
The reported move is based on what an unnamed senior Iranian source told TASS on Thursday.
The Strait, a strip of water only 34 kilometres wide between Iran and Oman at its narrowest point, provides passage from the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is the main route for about a fifth of world oil supplies and other vital goods including fertilisers.
Countries across the globe depend on it for crude oil and natural gas.
Nearly 90 per cent of India’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports come through the Strait.
It has been largely shut by Iran since the start of the conflict at the end of February, leading to a surge in global oil prices.
Iran blocked the critical maritime chokepoint after it was attacked in coordinated US and Israeli strikes on February 28, plunging the region in disarray and kicking off a deadly cycle of violence.
In the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, just a single oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers sailed through a strait that typically accommodated 140 ships a day before the war, accounting for around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows.
With inputs from Reuters
