Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart on April 9 suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war, in a message that may be intended to pressure the U.S. as uncertainty hangs over a days-old two-week ceasefire and further negotiations are expected in Pakistan.
The shaky ceasefire has been largely holding between the U.S., Israel and Iran, although Tehran and Washington have offered vastly different explanations of the initial terms.
Israel insists the agreement does not apply to their war against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and have escalated deadly strikes there, leading Iran to claim it is violating the deal. Meanwhile, Iran said it had won agreement that it would control the Strait of Hormuz, charge tolls and enrich uranium while Trump said the deal called for the strait to be reopened and Iran to hand over its uranium stockpile.
The chart of the Strait of Hormuz was released by the ISNA news agency, as well as Tasnim, which is believed to be close to the Guard. They showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, which was the route ships take through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil and natural gas traded once passed.
The chart suggested ships travel further north through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route some ships were observed taking during the war. It was dated from Feb. 28 until April 9 and it was unclear if the Guard had cleared any mining on the route since then.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said his country will allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with “international norms and international law” once the United States ends its “aggression” in the Middle East and Israel stops attacking Lebanon.
Khatibzadeh told the BBC on April 9 that Iran had closed the strait after U.S. ally Israel committed an “intentional grave violation of the ceasefire.”
