A Japanese shipping company announced on Monday that an Indian-flagged tanker operated by one of its subsidiaries had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz and is now en route to the South Asian country, according to AFP.
A spokeswoman for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines told AFP that the LPG tanker Green Asha had successfully crossed the strait.
“Both the crew and the cargo are safe,” she said.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, targeting its leadership and triggering a new conflict in the Middle East.
Iran has been responding with a retaliatory counterattack in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi as a retaliatory move, while launching barrages of missiles and drones toward Israel.
The conflict has spread across the Middle East, leaving thousands dead, triggering unprecedented disruptions to energy supplies especially after the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
As a critical waterway, the Strait of Hormuz handles approximately a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and roughly one‑fifth of all liquefied natural gas flows.
Due to the escalating tensions, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared that the waterway was unsafe. Therefore, the authorities halted ship movements.
Iran has recently declared that the strait remains accessible to vessels from “friendly countries,” while blocking passage for those it considers adversaries.
The vessels that have navigated the strategic chokepoint since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict have largely done so via an Iranian-approved corridor through its territorial waters near Larak Island, a route dubbed the “Tehran Toll Booth” by leading shipping journal Lloyd’s List.
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