[Regnum] Merchant vessels continue to transit the Strait of Hormuz unimpeded on June 20, according to a statement from the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
According to the US military, traffic increased in the past 24 hours, with 55 commercial vessels passing through the strait, carrying more than 17 million barrels of oil and other cargo.
The statement said US forces continue to operate in the strait "to support freedom of navigation" and that passage through the waterway remains safe.
Earlier that day, the Iranian Armed Forces Command stated that due to both the US and Israel's failure to comply with the terms of the ceasefire agreement, and particularly due to Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz would be closed again. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, for its part, stated that ships should not approach the Strait of Hormuz, as doing so would put their safety at risk.
On June 15, the US and Iran signed a memorandum ending the conflict. Negotiations on a basic agreement were expected to begin next, lasting 60 days, but these talks have not yet begun. Meanwhile, the US lifted the blockade of Iranian ports, and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20% of global oil exports pass, was expected to be restored.
Iran has previously repeatedly stated that hostilities must cease throughout the region, including in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has stated that the country will not withdraw troops from southern Lebanon. On June 19, Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement reached a ceasefire agreement, but it was violated within minutes.
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Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz due to Israeli aggression against Lebanon
Iranian authorities have decided to close the Strait of Hormuz due to Israel's aggression against Lebanon. This was announced on June 20 by the Islamic Republic's Armed Forces Command Headquarters.
The statement said that both the United States and its ally, Israel, were violating the memorandum on the cessation of hostilities previously signed between Tehran and Washington.
"In light of the United States' clear violation and failure to implement the first point of the memorandum on ending the war, as well as in response to the Zionist regime's (Israel's – Ed.) ongoing ceasefire violations in southern Lebanon, the brutal killings and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of residents from this land, and given that the Zionist occupation forces have not withdrawn from southern Lebanon, we declare that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to the passage of ships," the statement said.
On June 15, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum ending the conflict. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that after the memorandum was signed, negotiations on a basic agreement would begin and last 60 days. The United States lifted the blockade of Iranian ports. It was expected that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would be restored.
Iran has previously repeatedly stated that hostilities must cease throughout the region, including in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, stated that the country would not withdraw troops from southern Lebanon. On June 19, Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement reached a ceasefire agreement, but it was violated within minutes.
US Vice President JD Vance also said he saw no evidence that Hormuz was closed, instead suggesting that Iran was diverting vessels from sailing into naval mines, as he told Fox News in an interview that he was confident the ceasefire agreed in Washington’s 14-point deal with Tehran would hold.
“We know those straits have a lot of mines in them… what I would believe is that if a ship was going near a minefield… [Iran] might say, ‘no don’t go there because there are mines there,'” Vance said, noting that the memorandum includes a 30-day period for mine-clearing operations.