More than 300 non-Iranian vessels have contacted Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) since late April to obtain permits to cross the strait of Hormuz safely, the entity said yesterday.
The PGSA was formed as part of Tehran's push to tighten control over shipping in and around the critical strait of Hormuz after the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in late February. Numerous governments have pushed back strongly against Iran's claims on the waterway.
"Since the start of operations early [in the Iranian month of Ordibehesht], more than 300 non-Iranian vessels have submitted information to the PGSA to obtain safe passage permits through the strait of Hormuz," the authority said yesterday. Ordibehesht corresponds to the period from 21 April to 21 May.
A breakdown published by the PGSA showed 42pc of the vessels applying for a permit were "oil tankers". Another 27pc were bulk carriers, 11pc were container ships and 8pc LNG carriers.
It said 77pc of the vessels submitting requests were looking to exit the Mideast Gulf through the strait, with the remaining 23pc looking to enter the Mideast Gulf.
Of the vessels looking to exit the Mideast Gulf, the PGSA said more than one quarter, or 28pc, were destined for China, 19pc for India and another 23pc for elsewhere in Asia. Around 12pc of the vessels were heading for ports in Europe and 10pc for ports in Africa.
And of the vessels travelling the opposite direction, more than one third, or 34pc, were destined for the UAE, 31pc for Qatar, 17pc for Iraq and 10pc for ports in Kuwait. The remaining 6pc was split equally between ports in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Staying power
Tehran had been working on a mechanism to formalise its oversight and management of traffic through the strait of Hormuz since early in the conflict which was triggered by a surprise joint attack by US and Israel on Iran on 28 February.
A bill dubbed the ‘law of strategic action for peace and development in the Persian Gulf' that was under discussion in Iran's parliament in March, now appears to have formed the basis for the creation of the PGSA.
Iran formally announced the launch of the PGSA on 5 May, calling on all vessels intending to transit the strait to contact it by email to request a permit. The authority launched an account on social media platform X two weeks later on 18 May.
But the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) last week issued fresh sanctions against it, despite ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran on a deal to end the war, and reopen the strait.
Anyone co-operating with the PGSA "may be providing support to and receiving services from [Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC, which ultimately benefits from this attempted extortion, and may therefore be exposed to sanctions risk," Ofac said.
The sanctions appear to have had an effect on traffic through the strait, with latest data from Kpler indicating that traffic has fallen to a little over three vessels per day since the sanctions were announced, down from almost seven daily in the week prior to the announcement.
