Indian ships exempt from Hormuz curbs: What Iran wants in return

Amid fresh hostilities in West Asia — US struck Iranian targets as recently as Monday (November 2) — Tehran has revealed an exemption for shipping traffic from four countries, including India and China, to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

The key maritime chokepoint of Hormuz is currently facing double blockades. The critical chokepoint handled a fifth of global fuel supply before Iran shut it after joint US and Israeli strikes on February 28. The US later announced its own blockade for ships moving to or from Iranian ports.

But with the hostilities continuing for over 8 months, Tehran has exempted commercial ships from certain countries from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. A top Iranian official announced the exemption to vessels, with certain expectations in return.

Amir Hayat Moghadam, Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, gave an interview to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) on Tuesday. "We have currently exempted four countries – India, China, Iraq and Qatar – from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Ships from these countries pass freely, and the Americans do not intercept them either," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency. Moqaddam specified that the exemptions were based on specific considerations and mutual interests.

Indian ships were allowed to cross the Strait because Iran was interested in importing medicines from New Delhi. Chinese exemptions were made with hopes of securing Beijing's political support. US reportedly attacked the islands of Qeshm and Hengam in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Explosions were also heard in the nearby mainland area of Bandar Abbas. Shipping through the waterway has continued to be severely disrupted since February 28, when the US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes.

Iran moved to shut the waterway soon after the US-Israeli bombing began, and Washington responded weeks later with a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran, which has imposed strict restrictions on traffic, allows only a few vessels to pass through the waterway while others undergo screening and, in some cases, pay transit fees.

At least 15 Indian seafarers have been killed in attacks on ships in the region since the conflict began in February. In the latest incident, an Indian sailor was killed in an attack on the commercial vessel MSV Al Jusufi near Limah in Oman on Monday evening.

India, which has been consistently calling for finding a solution to the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy, has termed the continuing incidents of attacks on commercial shipping in the region as "deeply concerning".

India has said that the targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and free and unimpeded navigation and commerce through the international waterways, in keeping with international law, must be restored at the earliest.