While Indian and Chinese ships will incur a transit fee, Qatari vessels are granted free passage through the contested waterway. This strategic decision highlights Iran's efforts to position itself as the primary regulatory authority in the Persian Gulf despite ongoing military conflicts and security risks.

While Indian and Chinese ships will incur a transit fee, Qatari vessels are granted free passage through the contested waterway. This strategic decision highlights Iran's efforts to position itself as the primary regulatory authority in the Persian Gulf despite ongoing military conflicts and security risks.

While Indian and Chinese ships will incur a transit fee, Qatari vessels are granted free passage through the contested waterway. This strategic decision highlights Iran's efforts to position itself as the primary regulatory authority in the Persian Gulf despite ongoing military conflicts and security risks.

Amid reports of flare-ups in the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced that commercial vessels from India, China, Iraq, and Qatar will not face any transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. Vessels from the specified nations can navigate the war-threatened waterway without limitations, Vice Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Ahmad Hayat-Moghaddam reportedly announced on Tuesday.

“We are conducting business, and each of these exemptions has a distinct reason,” Hayat-Moghaddam was quoted as saying by IranWire. "We have currently exempted India, China, Iraq, and Qatar from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. Ships from these countries pass freely, and the Americans do not intercept them either," he was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency.

According to these reports, Tehran expects Beijing's political backing in return for letting its vessels pass unharmed, while medicine imports were cited as the reason for granting Indian ships an exemption. While both these nations will have to pay a transit fee, Qatari vessels will be allowed to pass without charge. Iraq's situation was not mentioned in any of the reports.

In late October, the Ministry of External Affairs said 22 Indians have been killed in the Middle East since the US-Iran war began in February. The casualties included 14 sailors who were killed in strikes by the US and Iran on commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

It was earlier reported that Iran seems to be shifting its focus to the network that has allowed Gulf oil to bypass its grip. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims to be hitting five to six ships a night, many of them outbound tankers operating with their transponders switched off. Mohsen Rezaei, the hawkish Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, has described the transfer system as a smuggling operation run by US Central Command and the UAE military.

Tehran's response has been to widen the arc of its attacks. Drones and precision projectiles have reached southern transit corridors and anchorages off Oman, such as Sohar. By showing that vessels remain exposed even under Western naval cover, Iran hopes to persuade shipowners and insurers that the shuttle cannot guarantee safe passage.

The IRGC Navy has cited mine threats, attributing recent tanker explosions to vessels transiting corridors without its clearance. Iran says the waterway is managed by a body it calls the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, and that commercial traffic must follow its directives. Iranian naval forces have also issued VHF radio instructions to vessels anchored off Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, asking them to leave immediately. The combination of physical hazard and administrative oversight is designed to present Iran as the sole gatekeeper of the passage.

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