Iran has agreed to set up a hotline between itself and the United States to solve disputes in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said that the Strait will henceforth be “managed under Iranian arrangements” and will “never return to what it was before the war.”
Ghalibaf made the comments in Iran after returning from talks in Switzerland with the US. “Problems can arise in the Strait of Hormuz, so we agreed to establish a center and a communications line so that if issues occur, we can resolve them more quickly within a 30-day period,” Ghalibaf was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency. [Mehr News Agency is an Iranian state-owned media outlet]
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According to a report by RT, the new communications line will only be used to resolve issues involving vessels. It could also be used to clarify incidents. It will not be used to obtain Iranian permission for passage through the waterway, Ghalibaf added. Iran will “implement international laws precisely” and will act quickly to resolve any incidents or misunderstandings involving ships transiting the waterway.
The hotline will therefore be used for quick resolutions should an issue surface in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Naturally, just as problems may arise in Lebanon or elsewhere, problems can also arise in the Strait of Hormuz,” Ghalibaf said. “As you’ve seen, on some nights there have even been clashes.”
Some shipping traffic has resumed through the Strait of Hormuz; however, shipowners remain deeply uncertain about how to navigate the waterway, amid conflicting instructions from Iran, the US, and Western insurers.
This hotline could help resolve some of the issues, but it’s unlikely to do so, considering Iran and the US do not appear eager to give up any control either has in the Strait of Hormuz.
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