Iran captured two foreign container ships trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and fired on a third, as the United States military intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters, according to. The moves deepened a maritime fight that has turned one of the world’s most important shipping lanes into a live battlefield.
The latest confrontation came days after the US military fired on and captured the Iranian-flagged container ship Touska on Monday near the strait in the northern Arabian Sea, while the ship was heading to Bandar Abbas. Iran accused Washington of piracy after that seizure, and Tehran answered Wednesday with its own takedowns at sea.
That matters because the Strait of Hormuz carries about 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies in peacetime. It is also only 21 nautical miles wide at its narrowest point and lies entirely within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman there, which means every ship passing through now moves through a corridor where both sides can reach it.
The standoff did not start this week. The United States naval blockade of Iranian ports began on April 13, after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28 and Tehran closed the strait to all vessels. On March 4, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was in full control of the waterway and that ships would need its clearance to pass.
Iran later softened that message without dropping it. On March 26, Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz was not completely closed and was closed only to enemies, saying there was no reason to allow enemy ships and their allies to pass. Tehran has also said ships from other countries can move through if they negotiate passage with the IRGC.
The friction now is that rival militaries appear to control the entry and exit points. Ships trying to move out face Iranian action, while vessels linked to Iran face the US blockade and interceptions, leaving traffic through the strait dependent on approval from both sides. That is a far more dangerous arrangement than a simple blockade, because it puts every passage inside a contest over who gets to decide what moves and what stops.