Iran plans new restricted zone and shipping route near Hormuz

Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei said Iran will announce a new restricted maritime zone near the Strait of Hormuz in the next few days and reveal a new shipping corridor agreed with Oman as tensions continue to disrupt traffic through the strategic waterway.

Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the no-go zone would run from what Tehran calls the line of a US naval blockade into parts of the Gulf. According to Iranian state media, Vessels entering the area without coordination with Iran may be placed on a sanctions list.

“The new international corridor that Iran manages has been determined with the Omani brothers and will be announced in the coming days,” Rezaei said, according to state media.

Iranian officials said the entry and exit points of the new corridor would be under Iranian control. Tehran and Muscat last month agreed on a provisional route through the strait, which partly passes through Iranian territorial waters.

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply as military tensions between Iran and the United States have increased. Reuters said average daily commodity-ship traffic had fallen to about 10 vessels in the past 10 days, the lowest since May.