Iran Grants Safe Passage In Hormuz To Four Nations, including India & China

Iran has allowed commercial ships from India, Iraq, Qatar and China to transit the Strait of Hormuz, and no restrictions on passage apply to them.

Amir Hayat-Moghaddam, the Deputy Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that the exemption was extended to India because Tehran purchases medicines from New Delhi.

Similarly, Chinese ships have been given access to the waterway to strengthen political and diplomatic ties and garner Beijing’s political support.

According to sources, even the U.S. is not stopping these ships from crossing the waterway either. Moghaddam said that Iran is collecting transit fees from Indian and Chinese ships while Qatari vessels are passing without any payment. He did not clarify whether Iraqi ships are paying the fee or not.

India imports almost 90% of its crude oil requirements, and 30% of these energy shipments pass through Hormuz.

In the past, the waterway accounted for almost 70% of energy cargoes bound for India; however, New Delhi diversified the supplier base by buying crude and petroleum products from the U.S, Russia, West Africa and Fujairah in the UAE.

Till now, 90% of India’s LPG Cargo passes through Hormuz, and over 50% of its LNG shipments come from Qatar and the UAE, not to forget fertiliser-carrying ships, which also pass through the crucial maritime chokepoint to reach India.

Hayat-Moghaddam’s comments come against the ongoing U.S-Iran war in the Gulf and continuing restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. The European Union said that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy has instructed ships to provide identity documents and information regarding the type of cargo, its origin, destination, etc., to secure passage through the Strait.

According to the International Maritime Organisation, there were around 70 attacks on commercial ships between February and August. These attacks caused the deaths of 19 seafarers, and 15 of them were Indians. A total of 24 Indian seafarers have died in the West Asia conflict.

After Iran decided to close the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, and the U.S. imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, India urged both parties to use dialogue and diplomacy to come to an agreement and ensure unrestricted movement of energy supplies and uphold Freedom of Navigation in the waterway.