Iran Allows Additional Iraqi Oil Tankers to Navigate the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that Tehran has given special permission for several Iraqi oil tankers to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, responding to persistent requests from Baghdad. The move was one of the key outcomes of Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf's trip to Iraq, where the issue was raised as a priority. Iraqi President Nizar Amedi announced that Iranian officials have recently helped Iraqi vessels move through the strait and that talks are ongoing about expanding oil shipments via Hormuz.

He described the matter as complex while speaking at the Baghdad Dialogue policy conference. Iraq, whose pre-war oil output was about 4 million barrels per day, has been hit hard by Iran's effective closure of the waterway, prompting the government to develop export alternatives through Turkey's Ceyhan port, Syria's Baniyas port and Jordan's Aqaba port, as stated by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. The reduced traffic and continued security threats in the strait remain a challenge for regional oil trade.