Iranian Ambassador to China Clarifies Strait of Hormuz Policy Amid Bloomberg Reports of Halted Maritime Traffic

Iranian Ambassador to China Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli states Iran will regulate, not close, the Strait of Hormuz if regional security threats persist.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 10, 2026, 4:45 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Global Times

Diplomatic Nuance Amid Military Escalation

As the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran enters its eleventh day, the Iranian Ambassador to China, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, has attempted to refine Tehran’s official stance on the world’s most sensitive maritime chokepoint. Speaking at a press conference in Beijing on Monday, Fazli asserted that while Iran may implement strict "regulations" on passage through the Strait of Hormuz, these measures should not be interpreted as a formal closure of the waterway. This diplomatic messaging appears aimed at balancing Tehran’s domestic hardline rhetoric with the need to maintain international standing, particularly with major energy consumers like China. The Ambassador emphasized that the safety of the strait is contingent on the withdrawal of foreign military forces, specifically naming the United States and Israel as the primary sources of regional insecurity.

Contradictory Signals From the Revolutionary Guard

The Ambassador’s measured tone stands in stark contrast to aggressive statements recently issued by high-ranking military figures within Iran. On March 2, a senior official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reportedly claimed the strait was closed and threatened that Iranian forces would fire on any vessel attempting to transit the channel. However, by the following Friday, the Tasnim News Agency carried a corrective interview with another IRGC officer who labeled reports of a total closure as "inaccurate." This internal friction suggests a lack of consensus within the Iranian leadership regarding how to leverage its geographic control over the strait without triggering a catastrophic global economic backlash or further military retaliation.

The Reality of a De Facto Shipping Halt

Despite the diplomatic insistence that the strait remains technically open, independent maritime data paints a much grimmer picture for global trade. Investigations by Bloomberg indicate that commercial shipping through the crucial 21-mile-wide channel has effectively stopped. The combination of soaring insurance premiums, direct military threats, and the physical presence of naval assets from multiple nations has created a "de facto" closure that exceeds the impact of any official Iranian decree. With an average of 20 million barrels of crude oil typically passing through the strait daily, this paralysis ac...