Cargo ships sail in the Arabian Gulf towards Strait of Hormuz in United Arab Emirates. AP
“We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations engaging in preparatory planning,” the countries, mostly European, along with the UAE and Bahrain, said in a joint statement.
The statement also condemned what it described as "recent Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and regional infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces."
However, from Tehran’s perspective, these measures are a defensive response to repeated attacks on Iranian territory and civilian energy facilities by US and Israeli forces since they started the war on 28 February.
In the wake of the initial strikes on Iran, Tehran has carried out retaliatory operations targeting installations used by US forces in the Gulf. While Iran has claimed some of the 16 vessels reportedly been struck, Iran maintains that it is acting in defensive responses.
From March 1 to 19, commodities carriers made just 116 crossings, according to analytics firm Kpler -- a decrease of 95 percent from peacetime averages, but Iran itself is shipping oil through the strait in almost the same volumes as before the war,
Iran's semi blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil and gas normally flows, and the numerous US-Israeli attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Middle East, have sent energy prices soaring.
Iran has sought to reassure key Asian buyers, particularly Japan, that energy flows will not be completely cut off. Hormuz is "open", according to Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“The Strait of Hormuz is open, it is only closed to the tankers and ships belonging to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies. Others are free to pass,” Araghchi said.
Officials had said that passage may still be allowed for certain vessels under controlled conditions.
In his first statement issued since becoming Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei identified the Strait of Hormuz as a key priority for Iran in defence against Israel and the United States war.
According to CNN, Iran is negotiating with eight countries to allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz on the condition that oil is traded in Chinese yuan.
Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is limited to two narrow lanes, each 3.2 kilometres wide, that link the Arabic Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
Under international law and the law of the sea, every coastal state has sovereignty over roughly 12 nautical miles (around 22 kilometres) of territorial waters. This means that the narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz is divided between Oman and Iran.
Any vessel passing through the strait must traverse either Iranian or Omani territorial waters.
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