The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has dismissed Iran’s claim over the Strait of Hormuz, saying that it has facilitated the movement of several ships through the waterway since May this year.
CENTCOM Rejects Iran’s Authority Over Strait of Hormuz
In a post on X on Thursday, CENTCOM shared a screenshot of Iran’s State-run Broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, saying ships were only permitted to move through the Strait of Hormuz via the designated routes.
“Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said. It added that the U.S. forces had helped “successful transit of more than 800 commercial vessels and 380 million barrels of crude oil through the vital international trade corridor.”
Notably, Iran’s Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, earlier reaffirmed Tehran’s authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
At the same time, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the U.S. had violated the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which stipulated that Iran would oversee the waterway’s future administration following talks with Oman and other Gulf states.
This comes as the U.S. and Iran exchanged missile strikes in the region following Iran’s targeting of vessels traversing the strait away from the designated route. U.S. had earlier claimed to be moving at least 90 million barrels of oil through the waterway.
Iran War Updates, Oil Moves Up
President Donald Trump, during his appearance at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, said that the ceasefire agreement with Iran was “over.” The President also criticized the Iranian government, arguing that negotiations were a waste of time.
Israeli Intelligence also reportedly told Trump that he may be a target of an Iranian assassination plot for the President amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Oil prices moved higher as the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil surged 0.25% to $72.26/barrel at press time. Brent crude recorded a 0.26% surge and was trading at $76.50/bbl at the time of writing this article. Oil ETF United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO) was at $109.01 during the after-hours session on Thursday.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
