As Trump meets Xi, Iran lets Chinese ships through Strait of Hormuz
Iran has allowed some Chinese vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following diplomatic overtures from China’s government, semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported on Thursday.
The reports coincided with a visit to Beijing by President Trump, who held talks with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday that were expected to focus heavily on the crisis over the strategic waterway. Dueling Iranian and U.S. attempts to control traffic in the strait have rattled global energy markets over the past few months.
The Trump administration has been pressing China to use its leverage with Iran to help reopen the strait, which is a main shipping route for oil from the Persian Gulf.
Fars and Tasnim, two semiofficial Iranian news agencies, said Iran had approved the passage of some Chinese vessels under rules set by Tehran for managing traffic in the waterway.
Fars reported that the crossings had begun on Wednesday night, following a diplomatic outreach by China’s foreign minister and its ambassador to Iran. It said the move was rooted in the two countries’ strategic partnership.
It was too early to say whether this move meant there would be an easing of restrictions by Iran through the Strait of Hormuz, said Tomer Raanan, a maritime risk analyst at Lloyd’s List, a shipping publication. The bigger issue is that Iran gets to dictate who goes through the strait, he said, and as long as that is the case, it is “not really open.”
China’s leverage in the Hormuz crisis has been growing. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi discussed the Middle East during their talks, according to Chinese state media, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the United States wanted China to play a more active role in getting Iran to reopen the strait. [Continue reading…]