Iran Wants to Solely Guide Ships Around Minefields in Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has rejected France’s bid to demine the Strait of Hormuz in collaboration with its allies, saying the operation will exclusively be carried out by the Islamic Republic.

Behind Iran’s condition is its plan to charge a fee for the navigation (after the 60 day MoU with the US expires).

Gharibabadi made the remarks on Monday after French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country and Oman had decided to work jointly, in coordination with partners, on demining the Strait of Hormuz to secure maritime routes and ensure free and unconditional passage through the strategic waterway.

“Under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) demining [the strait] will be carried out solely by Iran and not by any other country,” he said.

In recent days, Iran twice attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz following efforts to open Oman’s territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf.

In the first attack on June 25, a cargo ship sustained damage by a missile of unknown origin while sailing 7.5 nautical miles (14 kilometres) south-east of Dahit, on Oman’s Musandam Peninsula. The vessel had taken an alternative maritime route to the one typically used in the Strait of Hormuz, instead transiting Omani territorial waters.

The aim was to avoid the corridor under the control of the Iranian maritime authority. The ship’s route was recommended on June 18 by the Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC), a naval information centre supported by the US government.

According to JMIC, this route is “mine-free”, unlike the route usually taken in the centre of the strait.