Iran Carves Out Strait Of Hormuz Exemptions For China, India, Iraq, Qatar

In a significant albeit underreported development for global energy, and for the US-Iran standoff in the Persian Gulf, Iranian parliament has this week announced it is exempting several key trading partniers from its oil transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz.

The move was first unvieled Tuesday by Ahmad Hayat-Moghaddam, Vice Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, at a moment Iranian export flows are struggling under the many months-long US naval blockade of the country’s ports.

“We have currently exempted India, China, Iraq and Qatar from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. Ships from these countries pass freely,” Hayat-Moghaddam stated in an interview to the Iranian Student’s News Agency (SNA).

His comments suggested further that the US Navy doesn’t block these ships from passing, which could explain how Iran has continued to get oil and wares out to global markets despite the blockade. “The Americans do not interfere with them either,“ he claimed.

According to more of the remarks:

Elaborating on the rationale behind the decision, the lawmaker noted that the Islamic Republic does not levy transit tolls on Qatari vessels and that each exemption was granted based on specific considerations and agreements. Hayat-Moghaddam remarked: “We are conducting business, and each of these exemptions has a distinct reason.”

According to the MP, India’s exemption was designed to facilitate medicine imports into Iran, while China’s exemption aims to secure political backing from Beijing for the Islamic Republic.

October saw a record number of attacks on commercial vessels by Iran, keeping geopolitical risk elevated across the region; however, what was a near-daily pace of the attacks seems to have slowed, for now.

Even global media reporting has slowed in terms of an Iranian focus, having given way to the midterm elections and major Democratic gains in the US.

President Trump has still held off on prior threats to resume a major bombing campaign after the midterm elections – but this is a possibility still on the table. The Democratic sweep and impending control of the House and Senate might perhaps make renewed major war a more distant possibility.