Iran’s military said on April 18 it has reinstated “strict military oversight” over the Strait of Hormuz due to Washington’s ongoing naval blockade of Iranian shipping, signaling an apparent reversal to a brief reopening of the critical global oil transit chokepoint announced a day earlier by Iran’s foreign minister and clouding the delicate peace negotiations taking place in the background.
Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement published by Iran’s official IRNA news outlet and Iran’s state-run Press TV that the move was triggered by the continued U.S. naval blockade and what he described as repeated violations of prior understandings governing maritime traffic through the strait.
