It wasn\u2019t clear what sparked the threat from Iran. However, the US military’s Central Command had put out a statement about a meeting with officials from Mideast nations in Bahrain that said \u201cleaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through” the strait.<\/p>\n
That could have been the phrase that angered Iran, which is preparing for the funeral that begins this weekend for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s first moments in February.<\/p>\n
![\"Commercial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/commercial-vessels-are-seen-in-the-strait-of-hormuz-off-band-MVA6MW3HTBFW5NBVKMFDAP6VX4.jpg\")
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Commercial vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
“Any failure to comply, deviation from the designated route, or disregard for the navigation protocols of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and forceful response from the armed forces, endangering the security of the violating vessels,” the Iranian statement said.<\/p>\n
It also said that interference by US forces in the strait “will be met with a rapid and decisive reaction”. <\/p>\n
Iran and the United States agreed as part of an interim deal to allow ships to pass without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran<\/a> insisted it must control the routes of the vessels and later charge fees for passage, upending decades of practice in the waterway.<\/p>\n The US and many Gulf Arab states say they won\u2019t agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait. An effort by Oman and a United Nations agency to launch a new route near Oman\u2019s shore sparked attacks across the Mideast last weekend, highlighting the tensions.<\/p>\n Despite the attacks, ship traffic in the strait continued to rebound<\/a>. At least 258 ships transited the waterway last week, a period that included Iranian strikes on two commercial vessels, according to marine data and analysis company Lloyd’s List Intelligence. That’s up from 138 ships the previous week.<\/p>\n A man stands beside a fishing pole along the shore as cargo ships and commercial vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n Iran’s attacks on June 25<\/a> and 27<\/a> “seem to have been forgotten,” Richard Meade, editor-in-chief at Lloyd\u2019s, said Thursday during a webinar.<\/p>\n Traffic in the strait has slowed somewhat since the strikes and remains far below levels seen before the war, when about 130 vessels passed through daily. And with ship operators having to choose between complying with Iran’s demands or braving the route off Oman watched by US forces, “nothing about this situation is stable,” Meade said.<\/p>\n “Routes are being chosen on an hour-by-hour basis… and they are contingent on shifting political approvals and real-time security assessments,” he said. \u201cThis is not the new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Iranian state television reported that a foreign ship got stuck in the strait after ignoring instructions from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. However, the vessel\u2019s shape, reported location and other details indicate the ship is tied to Iran and appears to have been stranded for months.<\/p>\n Despite the tensions, Wednesday’s talks saw “positive progress,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said. He told journalists that Pakistan hoped the next round of talks would be scheduled as soon as possible after Khamenei\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran’s joint military command warned Friday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,5107,43,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-506830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a-man-stands-beside-a-fishing-pole-along-the-shore-as-cargo-SQFMW2GKHNERPBL5WVEZ22CFDA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n