New Delhi, November 4: Iran has exempted merchant vessels from India, China, Iraq and Qatar from restrictions on using the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, an influential Iranian lawmaker has said. The move is aimed at facilitating the procurement of medicines from India, according to the lawmaker.
Amir Hayat-Moghaddam, deputy chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said ships from the four countries could pass freely through the waterway. He also claimed that the United States was not intercepting these vessels. He made the remarks in an interview with the Iranian Students' News Agency on Tuesday.
Hayat-Moghaddam said the exemption for Indian vessels was intended to facilitate the import of medicines from India. The exemption for Chinese ships, he indicated, was aimed at securing China’s political support.
He added that Iran collects transit fees from Indian and Chinese vessels, while Qatari ships are allowed to pass without charges. He did not clarify whether Iraqi vessels are required to pay transit fees.
India imports nearly 90 per cent of its crude oil requirements, with around 30 per cent of those imports currently passing through the Strait of Hormuz. India’s dependence on the route has declined from earlier levels as New Delhi diversified its oil purchases, including supplies from Russia, the United States, West Africa and Fujairah in the UAE.
The waterway remains crucial for India’s energy security. Around 90 per cent of the country’s LPG imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz. More than 50 per cent of India’s LNG imports from Qatar and the UAE are also transported through the route. The strait is important for fertiliser imports as well.
India has repeatedly called for uninterrupted movement of energy supplies and freedom of navigation in international waters after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and imposed restrictions on merchant shipping.
The Strait of Hormuz, located between Iran and Oman, accounts for nearly 25 per cent of global seaborne oil supplies originating in West Asia.
Meanwhile, the European Union has said that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy has introduced a system requiring ships to provide identification details and information about their cargo and destination to secure passage.
According to the International Maritime Organization, at least 70 attacks on merchant ships took place between February and August amid the conflict, resulting in the deaths of 19 seafarers. Fifteen of the 24 Indians killed in the West Asia conflict so far were seafarers.
