Iran Guards preparing plan for new order in Strait of Hormuz

Will never return to its former status, especially for the US and Israel

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FE Team | Published: April 06, 2026 23:41:53

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TEHRAN, Apr 06 (AFP): Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they are completing preparations to enforce new operating conditions in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been all but shut since the war with the United States and Israel began.
"The IRGC naval force is completing operational preparations for the Iranian authorities' #declared plan for the new Persian Gulf order," the Guards naval forces said in a post on X Sunday.
They warned conditions in the strait "will never return to its former status, especially for the US and Israel."
Their statement came after US President Donald Trump renewed threats to strike Iran's power plants and bridges if the vital shipping route is not reopened.
Iran has allowed only limited traffic through the waterway since the war began on February 28, disrupting the flow of roughly 20 percent of global oil and gas.
Oman's state news agency said on Sunday that Iran and Oman had held talks on easing passage through the strait, which remains effectively closed due to the conflict.
Iranian lawmakers have in recent weeks proposed imposing tolls and taxes on vessels passing through the waterway.
Turkish and Japan-owned
ships cross Hormuz strait
A third Turkish-owned ship has crossed the war-torn Strait of Hormuz, Turkey's Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Monday.
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key global waterway, since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran started on February 28 set off the Middle East conflict and sent global oil and gas prices soaring.
"The Turkish-owned vessel 'Ocean Thunder' which was en route carrying crude oil loaded from Iraq to Malaysia, safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz last night," Uraloglu said on X.
According to the global ship tracking intelligence Marine Traffic, it was coming from the port of Basra in Iraq.
This is the third vessel that safely departed the strait after two made an exit at the weekend.
"With this passage, the number of Turkish-owned vessels in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz has decreased to 12, and the number of vessels requesting exit has decreased to eight," the minister said.
He added efforts were under way to ensure the safe transfer of the eight ships that wish to depart from the region and the 156 personnel serving on these vessels.
A Japanese shipping firm said on Monday that an Indian-flagged tanker owned by its subsidiary had passed through the Strait of Hormuz and was en route to the South Asian country.
Iran has effectively closed the strait-a critical route for global crude oil and gas-in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that began on February 28.
The near closing of the international artery has led to fuel shortages and soaring energy prices across the globe.
A spokeswoman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines told AFP the LPG tanker Green Asha had crossed the strait. "Both the crew and the cargo are safe," she said. It was the third Japan-linked ship to transit the strait.
On Saturday, India's government said the LPG tanker Green Sanvi, also owned by Mitsui's subsidiary, had safely transited the strait. A day earlier, three tankers, including one co-owned by Mitsui, crossed the strait. Mitsui's Sohar LNG vessel was the first LNG tanker to have crossed the strait since March 1. The few vessels that have crossed the choke point since the start of the Middle East war have passed using an Iranian-approved route through its waters near Larak Island, dubbed the "Tehran Toll Booth" by leading shipping journal Lloyd's List.