Iranian Lawmaker Says Chinese and Indian Ships May Transit Hormuz for a Fee; India Says It Has No Iranian Assurance

Amir Hayat-Moghaddam, deputy chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Iranian Students' News Agency on November 3 that ships from India, China, Iraq and Qatar are exempt from Iran's restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, with Indian and Chinese ships paying transit fees and Qatari ships passing free. He gave no fee amount or payment mechanism, and did not say whether a ship's country would be defined by flag, owner or operator.

Transit through the strait has been restricted since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began, and the United States has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports since July. According to shipping data firm Kpler, about 10.23 million barrels per day of Gulf crude transited the strait in October, roughly 42 percent of it bound for China and 13 percent for India.

India has not confirmed any such arrangement. The Hindu BusinessLine reported on November 11, citing Indian sources, that there has been no communication at all from the Iranian government on exemptions, that the lawmaker's announcement was not backed by any concrete decision or action by Tehran before or after it was made, and that India has received no assurance. India's foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal only repeated a call for safe, free and unimpeded navigation. The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, Arsenio Dominguez, has said there is no legal basis for imposing any tax or fee on passage through an international strait.

Source: ISNA

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：霍尔木兹海峡南岸的格什姆岛卫星图（资料图）。图：NASA，公共领域，经维基共享资源 / Satellite view of Qeshm Island on the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz (file photo). Photo by NASA, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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