Iran announced today that in the last 24 hours 35 ships have passed through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz for energy trade in coordination with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The Iranian armed forces said, quoted by state television, that they were oil tankers and cargo ships.
The Iranian armed forces took control of the Strait of Hormuz shortly after the war began on February 28. Traffic through the strait has been largely blocked due to threats, inspections and attacks on ships, the DPA notes.
This has led to a sharp rise in global energy and fuel prices. Iran has also said that the strait has been mined.
Tehran has repeatedly stressed that the Strait of Hormuz is not blocked. In practice, however, shipping companies must coordinate with Iranian contact points and are then only allowed to pass through a corridor near the Iranian coast.
The Iranian leadership charges high fees for this. International law experts have said such fees violate the right to transit.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in Sweden for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, condemned Iran's attempts to set up a system of collecting fees for passage through the strait.
"I don't know of any other country in the world that is in favor of this other than Iran, but there is no country in the world that should accept it," he said.