Iran on Saturday warned a US military vessel that it would be attacked “within 30 minutes” if it crossed the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state television reported, citing a senior military official.The US vessel reportedly retreated after the warning was issued, the official added. This comes as the peace talks between the United States and Iran are currently underway in Islamabad.
Several US Navy ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, a US official told Axios, marking the first such transit since the start of the war with Iran. The passage was not coordinated with Tehran.US president Donald Trump said the United States has begun efforts to clear the Strait of Hormuz to ensure global oil supplies, calling it a “favor to countries all over the world.” He criticised other nations for lacking the “courage or will” to undertake the task themselves and noted that empty oil tankers from several countries were heading to the United States to load crude.Trump had earlier said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen “fairly soon” with or without Iran’s assistance, as Tehran’s effective blockade of the key waterway continues to disrupt global energy supplies.Trump added that the United States would “open up the Gulf”, noting that other countries were also ready to “help out.”A Greek vessel transited the Strait earlier on Saturday, followed hours later by two Chinese supertankers passing through the narrow chokepoint, even as peace talks between the US and Iran are underway in Pakistan, Bloomberg reported.The surge in tanker movement marked the biggest day of oil shipments through the strait since the conflict began.The development comes days after Washington and Tehran announced a temporary two-week ceasefire, halting a month-long conflict in the Middle East. Bloomberg reported that none of the vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz is carrying Iranian oil or has direct links to Iran, even though most crude shipments from the region since the conflict began have originated from the Islamic Republic.The three tankers have a combined capacity of about 6 million barrels of crude, but overall oil flows remain well below peacetime levels, roughly half the normal shipment rate for a single day.Meanwhile, the India-flagged LPG tanker Jag Vikram also crossed the strait, marking the first transit by an Indian vessel since the ceasefire was announced.At least 28 India-flagged vessels were in the Strait of Hormuz region when the West Asia conflict broke out, including 24 on the western side of the waterway and four on the eastern side.Shipping tracking data shows that since the ceasefire began, only 22 vessels with their automatic identification systems turned on have exited the Strait of Hormuz, compared with around 135 daily transits before the war, as cited by Al Jazeera.According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, more than 600 ships, including 325 tankers, remain stranded in the Gulf.