Overview
- A joint statement by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron on July 3 said Oman has agreed to cooperate and that Britain and France stand ready to deploy a wider Multinational Military Mission and mine‑countermeasure assets to keep Omani territorial waters safe for navigation.
- Iran publicly rejected foreign military moves in the waterway through comments by Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, saying the strait’s security belongs to its coastal states and warning of consequences for extra‑regional deployments.
- Iran’s ambassador to China, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, told a Beijing forum on July 4 that Tehran plans to impose service fees for ships transiting the strait and will give “special” treatment to friendly countries, a proposal the United States says would violate the recent 60‑day toll‑free window.
- Commercial traffic has risen from wartime lows but remains fragile as mine risks, ongoing clearance operations and incidents have forced at least eight ships to turn back or reroute closer to Iran, and the Joint Maritime Information Center has raised the maritime threat level to substantial.
- The strait normally carries about one‑fifth of global oil and LNG shipments, so stalled demining, unresolved talks over frozen funds and competing claims of coastal control could quickly push up insurance costs, slow exports and revive energy price pressure.