Iran maps out alternative shipping lanes as mine fears persist: What is happening in Strait of Hormuz?

“The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments,” Araghchi said in a post on X.

Tehran shares a map showing alternative shipping routes in Hormuz, suggesting the navy put mines

Iran’s semiofficial news agencies published a chart on Thursday (Apr 9), suggesting the country’s Revolutionary Guard Navy put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war.

The chart, according to ISNA news agency and Tasnim, showed a large circle marked as “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, where the Guards allegedly placed the mines. This is a key route taken by ships through the strait.

It suggested that ships go up north through the waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island. This route was taken by some ships during the war.

Meanwhile, reports of an oil tanker abruptly reversing its direction near the strategic crossing surfaced on Thursday (Apr 9). According to Iran’s PressTV, oil tanker AUROURA took a sudden 180-degree turn near the exit of the Strait, reversing its course and going back into the Persian Gulf, hinting at the closure of the Strait.

‘Passage of ships in the Strait of Hormuz must be halted right now,’ says top Iranian official

An Iranian official called for a complete halt of the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz in response to “savage Zionist aggression against Lebanon”, stating that the ceasefire should either be on “all fronts or no fronts”.

“In response to the savage Zionist aggression against Lebanon, the passage of ships in the Strait of Hormuz must be halted right now… The Lebanese sacrificed their lives for us, and we must not leave them alone for a moment. Ceasefire either on all fronts or on no fronts,” Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament, said in a post on X.