Ships linked to Iran are reported to have transited the Strait of Hormuz on April 14, the first full day of aUS naval blockadetargeting vessels “entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.”
Data from ship tracking services listed at least four ships, two of which had recently called at Iranian ports, that had passed or were passing through the 30-kilometer-wide waterway in the hours after the blockade came into force the previous day.
There were no reports of Washington taking direct action against the ships to enforce the blockade.
The voyages are the first test of the blockade, launched after failedUS-Iranian peace talksin Islamabad on April 11-12. Media reports on April 14 said Pakistan was seeking to facilitate a new round of talks later this week.
This followed an interview in which US Vice President JD Vance raised the prospect of further meetings by saying “a lot of progress” was made in Islamabad.
“The ball is in the Iranian court,” Vance added.
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Official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted the country’s president, Masud Pezeshkian, as again blaming Washington for the failure of the talks during a conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on April 14. But he also said that “diplomacy is the preferred path to resolving disputes,” according to IRNA.
Macron said he had urged Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump, in separate calls, to renew talks.
‘Record’ Oil Prices
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the US blockade “dangerous and irresponsible.”
Guo Jiakun said it would “escalate tensions, undermine the existing fragile cease-fire agreement, and further endanger the safety of navigation through the strait.”
Also on April 14, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said global oil demand would shrink more than at any time since the Covid-19 pandemic amid the “most severe supply shock in history” owing to the Iran war.
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This has been caused by Iranian attacks and threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, that have almost completely closed a route that usually carried 20 percent of global oil supply.
Tehran’s near-total closure of the strait followed US and Israeli air strikes on Iran that began on February 28. It has continued despite thecease-firethat began on April 8.
“It remains unclear whether the cease-fire will turn into a lasting peace and a return to regular shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz. With oil-importing nations scrambling to source replacement barrels from an increasingly shrinking pool of supply, physical crude oil prices surged to record levels,” the IEA said.
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Among measures taken to boost global oil supply was a US decision to grant a temporary waiver to sanctions on Russian oil, introduced after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
That waiver was due to expire on April 11, but there is no indication of whether or not it has been extended, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“There have been no statements about this,” he told journalists.
Later on April 14, separate talks will be held in Washington between Israel and Lebanon, focusing on Israel’s ongoing campaign against Iran’s Lebanese proxy force Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, which Israel and the United States have designated a terrorist organization, will not be at the talks and has denounced them.
Tehran says this conflict should also be covered by the wider cease-fire, but Washington says it is separate. It began when Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2 in response to the air strikes on Iran.
Defying US Blockade, Iran-Linked Ships Reportedly Transit Hormuz
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