Daijiworld Media Network - Tehran
Tehran, Nov 4: Iran has exempted commercial vessels from four countries, including India and China, from transit restrictions in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, even as attacks on ships attempting to cross the waterway continue.
Amir Hayat Moghadam, deputy chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, announced the exemptions in an interview with the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) on Tuesday.
"We have currently exempted four countries - India, China, Iraq and Qatar - from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. Ships from these countries pass freely, and the Americans do not intercept them either," he was quoted as saying.
Moghadam said the exemptions were based on specific considerations and mutual interests. He explained that allowing Indian vessels to pass was intended to facilitate imports of medicines from India, while the exemption for Chinese ships was aimed at securing Beijing's political support.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, handles approximately 20 per cent of global energy supplies under normal circumstances. Shipping through the route has been severely disrupted since February 28, when the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes.
Iran imposed restrictions on maritime traffic soon after the attacks began, while Washington subsequently introduced a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Tehran has since allowed only selected vessels to pass through the waterway, with other ships subjected to screening and, in some cases, transit fees.
At least 15 Indian seafarers have been killed in attacks on ships in the region since the conflict began in February.
In the latest incident, an Indian sailor was killed after an aerial object struck the commercial vessel MSV Al Jusufi near Limah off the Oman coast on Monday evening. Thirteen others were rescued.
India has consistently called for resolving the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy and described the continuing attacks on commercial shipping in the region as "deeply concerning".
New Delhi has maintained that attacks on commercial vessels and civilian infrastructure must stop and that free and unimpeded navigation and commerce through international waterways, in accordance with international law, must be restored at the earliest.