No permission required to sail through Strait of Hormuz, says govt official

NEW DELHI: (Mar 24) Sailing through the Strait of Hormuz - the only sea channel linking the oil-rich Persian Gulf with open oceans - does not require permission from any country, a senior government official said as more Indian vessels prepared to sail through the war-hit zone.

Rejecting talks of stranded Indian vessels in the Persian Gulf being allowed to sail through the strait only after reaching some kind of an agreement with Iran, which controls the narrow shipping lane, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Special Secretary at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said the movement through strait is taken by shipping companies and their contracting entities after considering safety and other conditions.

Movement of ships through the strait had come to a near halt after the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, and Tehran's sweeping retaliation that hit US bases in the Gulf regions as well as Israel.