Minefields, stalled talks keep Strait of Hormuz in strategic limbo

The future of energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz hangs in the balance after negotiations between Iran and the United States in Doha this week ended without an agreement on releasing frozen funds to the Islamic Republic.

With Tehran also failing to begin demining the strait, and still threatening to attack ships attempting to leave the Persian Gulf without its permission, neither side has yet met the two key obligations under their June 17 memorandum of understanding (MOU) to freeze the conflict launched by the US and Israel on February 28.

Until they do, definitive negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme will not proceed, according to the phased steps envisioned by the MOU.

Iran has also warned France and the United Kingdom, which are leading a multinational effort to demine the strait, to keep the European naval ships gathering in the adjacent Arabian Sea at bay, rendering any such operation to reopen the strategic waterway unfeasible unless Tehran changes tack.

Iran rejected an announcement on June 28 of an agreement between France and Oman, which administers the southern Hormuz strait, to collaborate on clearing mines from the waterway. Such operations would “exclusively” be carried out by Iranian forces, Tehran warned.

Similarly, Iranian attacks on ships trying to exit the strait under an initiative launched by the United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on June 24 forced its suspension within a day, leaving some 600 vessels and their 11,000 crew members still stranded.