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European Energy Markets
31JUL

Iran claims sole control of Hormuz

3 min read
09:44UTC

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared from Baghdad that Iran would hold sole oversight of the Strait of Hormuz for 30 days, then demanded a single coastal corridor.

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Key takeaway

Iran and the US read Article 5 to opposite ends, so every Hormuz crossing breaks the deal for one side.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared from Baghdad on 28 June, the same day Iran struck Kuwait and Bahrain, that Iran would hold "sole oversight and management" of the Strait of Hormuz for 30 days 1. A day later Washington said commercial traffic could pass the strait unhindered. On 30 June Iran demanded a single corridor along its own coastline and threatened to obstruct ships using any other route 2.

Both sides cite the same text. Article 5 of the 16 June MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) promises safe passage at no charge for 60 days and mine clearance inside the same window Iran now claims to police; Iran reads that as its right to run the strait during the clearance period, and Washington reads it as a guarantee of open routing 3. Every routing decision now breaks the agreement by one reading or the other, which keeps insurers' war-risk cover suspended and tankers waiting.

The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) had already rejected the Oman-coordinated southern lane ; the tankers Ever Lovely and Kiku were struck while using exactly that route, not an Iranian corridor 4. Iran and Oman set up a bilateral fee committee for the strait on 23 June , yet the corridor stays contested, which is why the ceasefire keeps breaking on the water.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, announced on 28 June 2026 from Baghdad, the capital of neighbouring Iraq, that Iran would take sole responsibility for managing the Strait of Hormuz for 30 days. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow gap between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula that oil tankers must pass through to reach the open ocean from the Persian Gulf. Two days later, on 30 June, Iran went further, insisting that all ships use only a single shipping lane close to Iran's own coastline. Ships using any other route, Tehran warned, would be at risk. The June peace agreement between the US and Iran contains a clause, called Article 5, that deals with the strait during the period when sea mines are being cleared. The US reads that clause as guaranteeing ships can sail freely by any safe route. Iran reads it as giving Tehran the right to manage traffic during the mine-clearance period. Because neither side has changed its reading, insurers covering commercial shipping against war damage have not reinstated cover, meaning most shipping companies are keeping their vessels out of the strait regardless of what either government says.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Iran never ratified the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which establishes transit passage rights through international straits as a customary norm that cannot be suspended by the adjacent coastal state.

Tehran instead relies on its own maritime law, updated in 2024, which claims jurisdiction over the Strait of Hormuz based on Iran's internal continental shelf claims and frames the right to regulate 'hostile-linked vessels' broadly enough to cover any flag state that has sanctioned Iran. This legal asymmetry gives Iran a domestic legal basis for sole-corridor control that it need not breach UNCLOS to assert, because it never accepted UNCLOS.

Article 5 of the Islamabad MOU was drafted in the shuttle-mediation format, with separate rooms and Qatari and Pakistani relays, meaning both parties agreed to language without reconciling their baseline legal positions on Hormuz governance. The result is a text whose routing provisions each side reads as confirming its own prior stance, making the dispute non-resolvable by reference to the agreement both signed.

What could happen next?
  • Consequence

    Lloyd's of London war-risk rates stay suspended and tankers remain outside the strait for as long as the Article 5 routing contradiction is unresolved, regardless of the verbal stand-down.

    Immediate · Reported
  • Risk

    Iran's 30 June single-corridor demand gives the IRGC a formal justification to strike any vessel using an alternative route, including the Oman-coordinated southern lane already used by the Ever Lovely and Kiku before their attacks.

    Immediate · Reported
  • Precedent

    Araghchi's declaration from Baghdad, not from Tehran, signals Iran is using regional diplomatic forums to assert Hormuz claims without the domestic political cost of a formal Majlis position, a pattern that could be replicated for future jurisdictional assertions.

    Medium term · Suggested
Sources:Al Jazeera·Al Jazeera·Al Jazeera
Mentions:Iran →Strait of Hormuz →Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →United States →Oman →Tanker War →Trita Parsi →Lloyd's List →Bahrain →US Navy →Doha →Dubai →Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft →Iraq →Washington →Tehran →Kuwait →Kiku →M/V Ever Lovely →Baghdad →Operation Earnest Will →Persian Gulf →Abbas Araghchi →Strait of Hormuz Toll System →
First Reported In

Update #141 · Iran hits two US bases; Trump pulls back

Al Jazeera· 30 Jun 2026
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Causes and effects
Caused by
Oil barely moves on the stand-down
Oil's muted 1.3% bounce on the stand-down reflected continued uncertainty from the Hormuz governance deadlock keeping war-risk insurance suspended.
Occurred 28 Jun 2026
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This Event
Iran claims sole control of Hormuz
Iran and the US read the same Article 5 to opposite ends, so every tanker routing breaks the agreement by one reading and war-risk cover stays suspended.
Led to
IRGC rejects the Oman Hormuz route
Araghchi's sole-oversight declaration and Iran's single-corridor demand escalated from the IRGC's prior rejection of the Oman-coordinated corridor.
Occurred 25 Jun 2026
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Iran and Oman claim the strait
The Iran-Oman bilateral fee committee created on 23 June failed to resolve routing disputes, which Araghchi's sole-oversight claim then sharpened.
Occurred 23 Jun 2026
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Oman's Hormuz fee splits its authors
Oman's proposal and the joint fee committee undercut Araghchi's claim of Iran's sole Hormuz oversight.
Occurred 30 Jun 2026
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