Iran’s Fars news agency, which is affiliated to the country’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said earlier that 15 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz ‘‘with permission from Iran’’ in the previous 24-hour period.
It added that traffic was still 90% lower than before the start of the war.
Some Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have repeatedly said that the vital shipping lane is not shut, but it is closed only to ‘‘enemy countries’’.
For example, yesterday Iran announced Iraq is exempt from any restrictions it is imposing, according to the spokesman Iran’s for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarter.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials and lawmakers have also raised the possibility of tolling vessels using the strait.
Earlier an aide at Iran’s President’s Office, says the Strait of Hormuz ‘‘will be reopened’’ when ‘‘a portion of transit tolls is used to compensate for all the damage caused’’ by the war.
Source: BBC
--Agencies
