The ceasefire between the US and Iran is in grave danger after Iran announced on Saturday that, in response to the ongoing US blockade, it would once again impose travel restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz after its brief reopening on Friday.
Iran has used the strait – through which about 20% of the world oil passes — as a choke point on Western trade in response to the war the US and Israel launched in February. It was the highlight of the two-week ceasefire between the two sides, which is scheduled to end on Wednesday.
Tehran had announced Friday that the strait was “fully open,” in response to a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon that had entered into force. That deal is also already collapsing after an apparent flurry violation by Israel, which has continued to bomb southern Lebanon and destroy homes even as displaced civilians return.
Iranian officials said they chose to reimpose the blockade of the strait because they believe that by continuing their navy blockade of Iranian ports and ships, which began last weekend, the US is not honoring its end of the deal.
According to one social media POST from US Central Command on Saturday, the US military already had returned around at least 23 ships near the strait since its blockade began on April 13.
The President of the USA Donald Trump ALLEGED On Friday that Iran had agreed to reopen the strait unconditionally, but that the US blockade would “remain in place” until a broader agreement is reached on Iran’s nuclear program.
But Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said during a panel on Saturday that “This is not the term we agreed to.”
Iran’s military headquarters later released an official STATEMENT declaring that it would begin restricting travel through the strait.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, following previous agreements reached in good faith negotiations, agreed to manage the passage of a limited number of oil and commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, the Americans, with their constant violations of trust that are part of their history, continue their acts of piracy and maritime theft under the pretext of the so-called blockade.”
“This strategic waterway is under strict management and control by the armed forces,” he continued. “As long as United States does not end the full freedom of movement for ships from Iran to their destinations and back, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain under strict control and will remain as before.”
Gunboats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later on Saturday OPEN fire on an oil tanker traveling through the strait. No injuries were reported.
As Al Jazeera journalist Ali Hashem described, talks between the US and Iran are back to square one.
The gap looked increasingly difficult to bridge by Wednesday as Trump continued to demand that Iran allow the US to remove all of its enriched uranium, which Iran has said is non-initial.
American and Israeli attacks on Iran already have killed more than 1,700 civilians, according to the US base Human rights Activist News Agency, and more than 3 million Iranians have been displaced since the beginning of the war, according to United Nations Refugee Agency.
Trump said Friday that he probably “will not extend” the ceasefire and that “the blockade will remain. If an agreement is not reached by Wednesday, he said, “unfortunately, we will have to start dropping bombs again.”
President said that Iran “got a little cute” on Saturday by closing the strait again, but said Iran “can’t blackmail us.”
However, blocking the waterway has proven to be one of Iran’s most effective leverage points against the US. She has caused gas prices will rise above $4 and inflation to ripple across the Western economy, further lowering Trump’s already dismal approval ratings as the U.S. mid-term elections approach.
Jennifer Parker, an associate in marine studies at the University of New South Wales, said Al Jazeera that the US blockade of the strait does not have the ability to cripple Iran in the same way that Iran can cripple the US.
“It is not the US blockade of Iranian ports that is affecting most of the shipping that passes through that strait. It is the attacks that the Iranian navy and the IRGC have undertaken on civilian shipping,” she said. “To solve the problem in the Strait of Hormuz, there has to be an agreement for Iran to stop attacking ships, or a violent military intervention that stops them from attacking ships, and then general assurance across the strait that it is clear of mines and that if the IRGC starts trying to attack merchant ships, they will be protected from all of that.”
Iranian professor Mostafa Khoshcheshm said Trump’s contradictory statements about the ceasefire have convinced Tehran that the United States is not “a reliable partner for any kind of deal” and that, as Trump continues to behave erratically, “Iran will continue the war.”
He told Al Jazeera: “Iran believes it has the upper hand and that should be decided in any future confrontation.”
