Ismail Baqaei, spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said the Strait of Hormuz was open before the start of attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran on 9 Esfand, and that these attacks disrupted the normal flow of commercial shipping in the region.

Baqaei wrote on the social media platform X that stopping oil tankers, disrupting trade, and increasing energy prices are the result of a war that, according to him, Washington has started.

Tensions over the Strait of Hormuz have increased in recent months. Officials of the Islamic Republic had previously linked the full reopening of this waterway to the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, and Washington has also announced that it has control over vessel traffic along this strategic route.