The US government has warned shipping companies that doing business with Iran to secure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz could expose them to sanctions.
According to the Associated Press, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Tuesday it was issuing an advisory "to warn that paying the Iranian regime for safe passage or requesting assurances (of non-attack) carries a risk of sanctions."
The warning, directed at both US and non-US shipping industries, came as Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of war on February 28.
Iran is pushing a plan to collect transit fees from vessels while offering an alternative route closer to its own coastline.
OFAC specified that sanctionable forms of payment include not only cash but also digital assets, offsetting transactions, informal swaps and in-kind payments.
The agency particularly stressed that payments routed through Iranian embassies in various countries or made indirectly in the form of charitable donations are also strictly prohibited.
The shipping industry now faces a dilemma: paying transit fees to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz without being attacked by Iranian forces could trigger strong US sanctions.
In response to Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the United States has launched a counter-blockade preventing the passage of vessels linked to Iran.
According to US Central Command, 45 commercial vessels have been turned away since the counter-blockade began.
While the ceasefire between the United States and Iran currently holds, the prolonged standoff over control of the Strait of Hormuz is adding mounting pressure to the global economy.
Before the war broke out, the Strait of Hormuz served as a key waterway through which approximately 20% of the world's oil and gas trade passed.
Meanwhile, Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the United Nations, pointed to "the illegal war waged by the United States and Israel" as the root cause of the crisis and called for the resumption of negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
