Ships navigate Hormuz safely amid flare-ups

Dozens of vessels, including Chinese-owned ones, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz under Tehran's "management protocols" amid a renewed escalation in shipping tensions, showcasing Iran's significant leverage in the conflict with the United States, which has sent far-reaching economic shocks across the globe.

"It was ultimately concluded that a number of Chinese ships, as requested by this country, would pass through this area after an agreement on Iran's strait management protocols," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement on Thursday. "This passage began last night."

Though daily traffic is still far short of the average of 140 vessels before the war, Iranian state television said "more than 30 ships" had been given the green light to pass through the strait. Fars News Agency reported that some of these vessels are owned by Chinese companies.

Iran has largely shut the strait to ships since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb 28, causing the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history. The US paused its attacks on Iran last month but imposed a blockade on the country's ports. A fifth of the world's oil once passed through the strait on a typical prewar day.

In the latest incidents on the trade route, a ship anchored off the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, reportedly operating as a "floating armory" to support "private maritime security teams", was seized and taken toward Iran, local media and the British navy said on Thursday. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Indian authorities also announced that an Indian-flagged cargo ship sank off the coast of Oman after an attack on Wednesday while it was en route from Somalia to Sharjah, another UAE port, but did not identify the attacker. All 14 Indian crew members were rescued by Oman's coast guard and are safe.

As the war and the related fuel crisis dominate a two-day BRICS gathering in India, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the UAE, a US ally, on Thursday of direct involvement in military operations against Iran — a rare public confrontation as Iranian and Emirati officials have been in the same room since the war began in late February.

"We and the UAE are neighbors, we have lived together in the past, and we must continue to live together in the future. We must therefore change our perspective and understand security as mutual cooperation, not as cooperation with foreign countries," he said in a statement.

The BRICS bloc, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has since expanded. It now includes Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the UAE.

Araghchi, speaking in New Delhi, insisted that the Strait of Hormuz "is open for all" commercial vessels that "cooperate" with its navy. "There is no such thing as a military solution to anything related to Iran. We Iranians never bow to any pressure or threat."

In another development, Saudi Arabia is reportedly discussing a "non-aggression" security agreement between Iran and the nations of the Middle East as soon as the war comes to a definitive end, the Financial Times reported.

Quoting an unnamed Arab diplomat, the report said the pact would be modeled after the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which the US and European nations signed with the Soviet Union and its allies. The diplomat told the Financial Times that whether an agreement comes together "all depends (on) who is in it".

"Without Israel, it could be counterproductive because after Iran, they are seen as the biggest source of conflict. But Iran is not going anywhere, and this is why the Saudis are pushing it," the diplomat said.

The report added that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt are deepening defense and economic cooperation in the aftermath of the conflict.

Contact the writers at cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn