Iran warns against Hormuz crossings without authorisation

TEHRAN, June 25 (AFP): Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned against any crossings of the Strait of Hormuz without authorisation, saying vessels not complying "will be dealt with".
The future of the strait, a vital route for energy shipments that was locked down by Iran during the war, is a key sticking point in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Tehran has said it plans to impose what it calls maritime service fees, as opposed to tolls, while the United States argues it is an international waterway and therefore should not be charged.
"The only authorised route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the route announced by the Islamic Republic of Iran," said the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military.
Any crossing without authorisation is "unacceptable and extremely dangerous", they warned in a statement.
They also denounced what they said was a new route through the waterway announced by "certain authorities", without elaborating.
Hormuz is a narrow stretch of water between Iran and the Gulf countries through which roughly 20 per cent of the world's crude oil and liquified natural gas normally transits.
Senior Israeli and Lebanese officials denied on Thursday that there had been any Israeli withdrawal from occupied southern Lebanon, after a US official said Israel had pulled some of its troops back in a good faith gesture toward Lebanon's government, reports Reuters.
Israel and Lebanon have been discussing a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to transfer some of the Lebanese territory invaded in their war with Hezbollah to Lebanon's military, in a possible step toward restoring Lebanese control of occupied territory.
The "pilot zone" proposal has been part of the latest round of Israeli-Lebanese talks in Washington, which have gone on even as they appear to be eclipsed by Iran's move to make Lebanon central to its own talks with the United States.