Iran will allow all ships of an Asian country to pass through the Strait of Hormuz: “We are in the process of releasing oil tankers”
After talks with the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Turkey and other countries in the Middle East region, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday that ships flying his country's flag had received Tehran's approval to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, reports Reuters.
Anwar thanked Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the decision.
“We are now in the process of freeing the Malaysian tankers and the workers involved so they can continue their journey home,” Anwar said in a televised address.
He noted that he had been talking with Iran and other countries as part of efforts to facilitate peace in the Middle East.
“But it is not easy because Iran feels that it has been cheated repeatedly and finds it difficult to accept steps towards peace without a clear and binding security guarantee for their nation,” he added.
The prime minister also stated that the government he leads will maintain subsidies to the price of oil and that he will continue measures to lessen the impact of supply disruptions.
“For us, now, we are obliged to manage the situation because the effects of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the war and the stoppage of oil and gas supplies are directly affecting us,” he stressed.
Iran's Strait of Hormuz Threat
Anwar's announcement comes a day after an Iranian military spokesman said Wednesday that Tehran determines who is allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and mocked Washington's sustained negotiating efforts with Tehran.
The situation in the Strait of Hormuz, where in peacetime passed about a fifth of the global supply of oil and liquefied natural gas, “will not return to what it was”, the representative of the Iranian army said, on Wednesday, in a video message quoted by The New York Times.
“The authority to issue passes is ours,” continued Ebrahim Zolfaghari, adding that the “intensity of the flames” affecting oil prices is “in our hands.”
“As you flee from prolonging the war,” Iran's military spokesman said, referring to U.S.-backed negotiation efforts, “the strength of our armed forces is growing with each passing moment.”
Also on Wednesday, Zolfaghari had publicly rejected the US president's proposal for a ceasefire.
