Iran on Sunday reinforced its claim of authority over the Strait of Hormuz, announcing on state television that vessels must obtain approval from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps before passing through the vital maritime chokepoint.
The declaration came after Iranian forces targeted two ships traveling through the strait in recent days, triggering US strikes and subsequent retaliatory actions from Tehran.
The renewed violence raised fears that a fragile peace arrangement could collapse, less than a week after representatives from both sides met in Switzerland to discuss a lasting accord. President Trump accused Iran of breaching the cease-fire and warned that the US could be drawn back into full-scale conflict.
The clashes also caused shipping activity through Hormuz — a route that has carried as much as 20% of the world’s oil — to fall back to levels seen before the peace deal.
Only 10 ships made the crossing on Saturday, down sharply from the 40 to 50 vessels recorded earlier in the week.
The IRGC has insisted that Iran will retain complete control over the Strait of Hormuz. On Thursday, it launched a drone at a Singapore-flagged cargo ship off Oman’s coast after the vessel reportedly took a route through the strait that avoided waters controlled by Iran.
Tehran alleged that the ship, the container vessel Ever Lovely, was traveling with military escorts on the Oman side of the strait, a move it said challenged Iran’s authority over the passage.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Iran intends to exercise sole management over the Strait of Hormuz for 30 days before permitting normal traffic to fully resume.
“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and will increase the tensions, as we witnessed in the past two nights,” Araghchi told reporters in Iraq.
Under the terms of the MOU, Iran had agreed to keep the strait open and free for the full 60 days of negotiations before taking control of the waterway.
Iran said it plans to charge tolls or “insurance” for ships to cross after that — though the US has demanded no tolls can be allowed.
After Iran hit the Singapore ship, it apparently attacked the Panama-flagged tanker M/T Kiku, which was sailing from Qatar.
US fighter jets responded by launching strikes at 10 targets that facilitated that drone strike on the tanker.
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Trump furiously warned Iran, accusing it of violating the cease-fire agreement.
“It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” he said on Truth Social.
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
Iran responded by launching drones and missiles at US allies Bahrain and Kuwait.
Traffic along the Strait of Hormuz had begun trickling to a few dozen ships a day as peace held steady between the US and Iran last week.
The recent hostilities, however, caused the flow to drop to levels seem before the MOU was signed, according to maritime intelligence firm Kpler.
Shipping experts have warned that the renewed strikes will keep vessels too afraid to cross as they had before the war began, where more than 130 ships transited the strait every day.
Vice President JD Vance, who was in Switzerland for talks with Tehran last week, warned Iran to end its attacks in the region or face further retaliatory attacks from the US.
“Violence will be met with violence,” Vance said.
