A photo illustration taken in Nicosia on Monday shows a person in front of a large screen displaying vessel movements in the Strait of Hormuz on a ship-tracking website. AFP-Yonhap
The ceasefire in the Iran war abruptly faced its most perilous moment Monday after the United States began trying to open the Strait of Hormuz to allow hundreds of stranded commercial ships sail out.
There had been warning signs in the hours before the United Arab Emirates said it came under attack for the first time since the early April ceasefire, and before a British military monitor said two cargo vessels were ablaze off the UAE.
Iran had called the new U.S. military-aided effort to guide ships through the strait a violation of the fragile, three-week ceasefire. There were few signs of ships taking advantage of “Project Freedom,” announced Sunday by President Donald Trump, though the U.S. said two U.S.-flagged merchant ships safely transited with its help.
Caution is quickly growing among shippers, and in markets , over the lack of details from Washington. Who would risk their crew and cargo to possible Iranian fire?
U.S. appears to be going it alone
Iran’s grip on the crucial waterway has left hundreds of commercial ships and tens of thousands of sailors stuck since the war broke out over two months ago.
Backed up in the strait are weeks’ worth of supplies of globally needed oil, gas, fertilizer and other goods. This has been Iran’s strategic advantage in the war, one that has pinched economies and dimmed the outlook for the Republican president's party in this year’s midterm U.S. elections.
Oil prices rose Monday as uncertainty continued around the strait and the U.S. effort, which Trump has described as a humanitarian one to help countries that have been “neutral and innocent” in the war.
While countries in Europe and elsewhere have fretted over the strait and have been urged by Trump to help solve the issue, it was not immediately clear whether any other nation was involved Monday.
Source: Korea Times News
