A state of relative calm prevailed this Saturday around the Strait of Hormuz, after days of sporadic clashes, as the United States awaited Iran’s response to its latest proposals to end more than two months of fighting and begin peace negotiations.
The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said on Friday (8) that Washington expected a response within a few hours. However, a day later, there was no sign of movement from Tehran regarding the proposal, which envisions the formal end of the war before negotiations on more sensitive topics, such as the Iranian nuclear program.
A Qatari LNG tanker was sailing toward the strait on Saturday (9), bound for Pakistan, according to LSEG navigation data, in a move that, according to sources, was approved by Iran to build trust with Qatar and Pakistan, one of the mediators of the war.
If completed, the transit will mark the first passage of a Qatari LNG tanker through the strait since the conflict began.
With U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China scheduled for next week, pressure is mounting to end the war, which has rattled energy markets and raised risks for the global economy.
In recent days, there has been the biggest uptick in fighting inside and around the strait since the start of a ceasefire a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under a new attack on Friday.
Clashes Test the Ceasefire
Tehran has broadly blocked the passage of non-Iranian ships through the strait since the start of the war, after Israeli and American airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Before the conflict, about a fifth of the global oil supply passed through the narrow navigable route.
There were sporadic clashes on Friday between Iranian forces and U.S. vessels in the strait, the semi-official Iranian agency Fars reported. Later, Tasnim News Agency cited an Iranian military source saying the situation had calmed, but warning of the possibility of new clashes.
The U.S. military said they struck two Iranian-linked ships attempting to enter an Iranian port, with a U.S. fighter jet hitting their funnels and forcing them to withdraw.
The United States imposed a blockade on Iranian vessels last month. But a CIA assessment indicated that Iran would not suffer severe economic pressure from a US blockade of Iranian ports for another four months, according to an American official familiar with the matter, raising questions about Trump’s influence over Tehran in a conflict unpopular with voters and US allies.
A senior intelligence official classified the claims about the CIA’s analysis false, initially reported by The Washington Post.
