Citing unnamed “military sources,” the semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency reported Sunday morning that the Strait of Hormuz “remains closed and IRGC Navy will not issue passage permits until further notice,” according to Al Jazeera’s live update page. This came after Iran announced the closure of the strait yesterday, in response to the U.S. failure to stop the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
U.S. Central Command is disputing the Iranian assertion that the strait is closed. “Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets,” it said in a statement issued late yesterday. It included the link to a June 18 advisory of the Joint Maritime Information Center, recommending that ships transiting the strait use the southern route on the Omani side, as that side, they say, has been cleared of mines.
