Oil tankers navigate the Strait of Hormuz despite threats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

Former chief of the defence staff (Ret'd) Gen. Tom Lawson and head of mission in Iran Dennis Horak discuss the postponed U.S.-Iran peace talks.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A series of tankers made their way out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday despite threats to shipping from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, using a new route close to Oman’s shore that has been promoted by a UN maritime agency.

The development comes as Iran and the United States are increasingly debating the terms of the interim deal signed last week aimed at permanently ending the Iran war -- from getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a 60-day period to iron out the details. Until that happens -- during private talks -- leaders from both countries will also continue to negotiate in public, raising the risks of derailing the shaky ceasefire in the region.

On a Middle East trip, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Thursday with Gulf Arab officials in Bahrain, the island kingdom home to the Navy’s 5th Fleet, trying to assuage their concerns.

The flareup of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants has threatened the deal. Israel launched an airstrike that killed two people in southern Lebanon Wednesday, the country’s state-run news agency said. It was Israel’s first airstrike on Lebanon since the latest ceasefire took effect on Saturday.

Tankers sail through Strait of Hormuz

The oil tankers, led by the Stoic Warrior vessel, sailed along the coast of the United Arab Emirates and then Oman on Thursday morning, passing by Oman’s Musandam Peninsula fairly close to the shore -- a route laid out by Oman and the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency that oversees shipping at sea.

North of the route is the Traffic Separation Scheme corridor, in the center of the strait, where ships had moved through freely before the war, transporting about a fifth of all the world’s oil and natural gas.

However, at least one mine was sighted there after the Guard said that it mined the passage during the war, which started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran -- and the threat of mines shuttered the route.

Though some ships had been getting out of the strait, with U.S. military support, the UN agency’s effort is the latest to free trapped vessels. The shipping company Maersk said its container ship the Maersk Baltimore and another chartered vessel had also made it out the strait on Thursday.

Last week, 125 vessels crossed the strait, up from 33 the week before, according to marine data and analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Marine data firm Kpler reported 70 passages on Wednesday, the highest since March 1, the day after the war began.

Still, that is below the daily average of 130 or more from before the war.

“Opportunistic operators -- and there are many of them -- emboldened by the lower transit risk, or at least the perceived lower transit risk, have begun chasing the backlog of trapped cargoes that built up during the conflict,” said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief at Lloyd’s List.

Iran issues a stark threat

The naval arm of the Revolutionary Guard, apparently reacting to the new IMO’s route and the increased traffic, issued an angry warning Thursday, carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

“A few hours ago, without notice or coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, some authorities announced a new route for ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which is unacceptable and completely dangerous,” the Guard said.

“It is hereby notified to all that the only authorized route for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the one declared by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian force said. “Vessel traffic outside these routes is extremely dangerous and prohibited.”

“Violators will be dealt with,” it added, without elaborating.

There were no immediate reports of any incidents in the strait. On Wednesday, however, the Guard threatened one tanker over the radio, with a soldier warning “you are in range of my missiles and maybe (I) fire on you,” according to the private security firm Ambrey.

Rubio says the U.S. will ensure there are no tolls on ships

The U.S. secretary of state met with foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to assure them their interests would be protected in any agreement reached with Iran.

“There is no part in this deal that’s undertaken that in any way undermines the security, the stability of the prosperity of any of our partners in the Gulf region,” Rubio said.

He later told journalists the U.S. and Gulf allies would ensure there would be no fees charged on ships moving through the strait.

He also criticized Iran’s hard-liners for going “on their official media and making all kinds of pronouncements” that he described as not true.

He said the U.S. wanted to make sure the Oman route continued for ships to transit the strait. “If that stops, then we’re going to have a problem,” Rubio said.

The GCC countries have expressed reservations about the limitation of the U.S.-Iran deal signed last week, including conflicting claims over the strait and the fact that the memorandum of understanding does not specifically cover Iran’s nuclear or ballistic missile programs.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani thanked the U.S. for its support, saying that because of the agreement, “today we see a glimmer of hope for our region” but stressed that it was “critically important that Iran adheres to its obligations.”

Lebanon remains a flashpoint

Israel’s military said on Thursday that a reservist soldier was killed and another hurt in southern Lebanon, where troops are occupying swaths of the country. At least 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon or northern Israel during the fighting, as well one civilian defence contractor. Two civilians in northern Israel have also been killed.

Over 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since this latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in March, two days after the Iran war started and when the Lebanese militant group fired at Israel.

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Jon Gambrell and Matthew Lee, The Associated Press

Lee reported from Manama, Bahrain. Associated Press writers David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.