A foreign container ship has run aground in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday, claiming the vessel failed to follow an approved route. While identifying it as a foreign container ship, the report provided no further immediate details about the incident.
The Iranian state television report appeared aimed at underlining Tehran's claims to control over the strait, which has long been considered by the world as an international waterway. A fifth of all oil and natural gas typically passes through it in peacetime.
The incident coincides with US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, being in Doha, Qatar, for discussions with mediators, where Iranian negotiators were also expected.
Iran and the United States agreed as part of an interim deal to allow ships to pass uncharged for 60 days, but Tehran insisted it must control the routes of the vessels and later charge fees for passage, upending decades of practice in the waterway. The U.S. and many Gulf Arab states say they won't agree to the charges. An effort by Oman and a U.N. agency to launch a new route near Oman's shore sparked attacks across the Mideast over last weekend, highlighting the tensions still gripping the Mideast.
Iranian state TV said the ship “ran aground with its cargo because of shallow waters along the route it had chosen and was unable to continue sailing.” It said shippers needed to follow the instructions of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the strait.
The Guard's navy “has repeatedly warned captains, shipowners and officials of shipping companies around the world that any entry or exit through routes other than the “Route of Authority” in the Persian Gulf could lead to irreparable incidents,” it said. The report did not mention the two ships Iran attacked in recent days for daring to head out through the strait without Tehran's permission, including one that was carrying crude oil from Qatar.
