Trump says he and 'the ayatollah' can share control of Strait of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump on Monday said he and Iran's ayatollah could "jointly" control the Strait of Hormuz, as he unleashed a flurry of de-escalatory statements.
Trump said the waterway through which 20 percent of global energy supplies pass will be "jointly controlled. Maybe [by] me. Maybe me. Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is", Trump told reporters on Monday when asked about his claim that talks were underway to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Trump did not elucidate what he meant by control, but any US move that recognises an Iranian sphere of influence over the strategic waterway would be considered a major concession to the Islamic Republic.
After threatening over the weekend to attack Iran's electrical grid unless Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said that the countries were engaged in "very good and productive conversations" about ending the war.
Iran said that regional countries were working to "reduce tensions" between the two countries, but denied that any "dialogue" was taking place.
Either way, some form of US recognition of Iranian influence over the Strait of Hormuz would be the kind of action Tehran would welcome, two regional diplomats told Middle East Eye.
Somewhat ironically, the Trump administration has already lifted sanctions on Iranian oil at sea. The US said the move was done to ease energy price pressures, but it effectively creates a windfall for Tehran.
Control equals power
Iran wrested control of the Strait of Hormuz after it was attacked by Israel and the US.
The US's status as the world's dominant superpower rests in no small part on its policing of trade and commerce in the high seas. The Trump administration's inability to guarantee security in the waterway has been a major embarrassment and sparked reports of a potential ground invasion of Iran.
After a decade of enduring crippling sanctions, Iran turned the tables on the US and imposed its own rules in the Strait of Hormuz by using military force.
At least 17 vessels have been attacked by Iran in the Gulf since the war started on 28 February. Western insurers insist that coverage is available for ships to transit the waterway, but few ship owners and operators in the West are willing to pay the sky-high premiums or risk their crew.
The US's Arab Gulf partners are largely locked out of sending their oil and gas through the waterway. However, Iran has continued to export between one million and 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil through it.
Iran has 'Houthi playbook out'
Iran has savoured the power that comes with control of the Strait of Hormuz. Countries including India, Pakistan, Iraq, Malaysia, and China have engaged in talks with Tehran over access to the critical sea lane, Lloyd's List, a maritime news and analysis service, reported last week.
Ship-tracking data has shown Iran guiding vessels through the strait near its coastline, a move that maritime security experts say appears to be a form of policing the waterway.
Lloyd's List said Iran had effectively established a "de facto 'safe' shipping corridor" through its territorial waters.
In one case, it secured a $2m payment to allow a vessel to transit the waterway. The US's failure to secure the critical sea lane is shaping up to be a major embarrassment for Washington.
CNN reported that Iran floated providing safe passage to vessels whose energy cargo was purchased with Chinese yuan.
MEE reported last week that Iran has achieved a more sophisticated form of control over Hormuz than Yemen’s Houthis achieved in the Red Sea, following their attacks in what the group said was solidarity with besieged Palestinians in the Israeli war on Gaza.
"The Iranians have the Houthi playbook out, and it's very, very useful," Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a shipping and commodities analyst, previously told MEE. "It works well keeping western-affiliated vessels out of the area."
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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