Can Iran enforce a restricted zone in the Strait of Hormuz?

Iran says it will soon announce a new restricted zone around the Strait of Hormuz, but it has yet to explain how the measure would work in practice or whether it could enforce it.

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This zone will start from the US Navy’s blockade line and include areas of the Persian Gulf.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the zone would begin at the line of the US naval blockade, extend toward the strait and continue into the Persian Gulf. Any ship entering it, he said, would be placed on Iran’s sanctions list.

Tehran has offered few details about the zone’s exact boundaries or what sanctions would mean for vessels. Rezaei said maps for a new international corridor through Iranian and Omani waters had been agreed and would be signed in the coming days. Iran would manage the corridor, he said.

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Any ship entering this new zone will be placed on the sanctions list of Iran.

“We will only commit to the Strait of Hormuz being open when they stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran,” Rezaei said, referring to the United States. The announcement follows reports that more oil tankers are using the waterway despite Iranian warnings against unauthorised routes.

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The maps of a new international corridor which lies in Iranian and Omani waters and in which Iran will have management have been agreed and should be signed in the coming days.

The latest confrontation began after Iran targeted US warships escorting tankers trying to evade Tehran’s blockade. The United States has also blockaded Iranian ports, sharply restricting Iran’s oil and other trade. A 60-day memorandum that had halted the months-long military hostility collapsed after disputes over who would control the strait. Before the war, about 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies passed through the waterway.

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We will only commit to the Strait of Hormuz being open when they stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran.