Revolutionary Guards issue new navigational instructions as two-week truce temporarily reopens strait that carries 20% of global oil.
TEHRAN – Iran announced alternative shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, warning vessels to avoid the main channel due to the risk of sea mines, even as a fragile two-week ceasefire has temporarily reopened the world’s most critical oil chokepoint.
The Strait, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies normally pass, had been effectively blocked by Tehran since early March, sending energy prices spiraling. The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week truce overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, struck less than an hour before President Donald Trump’s deadline to launch military strikes against the Islamic republic.
But the navigational hazards have not dissipated. In a statement quoted by Iranian media, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) notified all ships intending to transit the strait that they must take alternative routes “in order to comply with the principles of maritime safety and to be protected from possible collisions with sea mines.”
The statement provided specific instructions for an alternative entry and exit route through the strategic waterway, though it did not specify whether the mines were newly laid or remnants of recent hostilities.
A narrow window of calm
The two-week truce has paused, but not resolved, the broader US-Iran confrontation. Trump had vowed to bomb Iran back to the “stone age” if Tehran did not bow to demands to reopen the strait. For its part, Iran had demonstrated its ability to strangle one of the world’s most vital energy arteries since early March.
While Tehran has agreed to temporarily reopen the strait as part of the ceasefire agreement, the IRGC’s mine warning underscores how far the region remains from normalized shipping operations.
Implications for global energy markets
The alternative routes are likely to slow transit times and increase costs for tanker operators, even as oil markets have breathed a partial sigh of relief. Insurers and shipowners – already wary after weeks of heightened tension – will need to assess whether the new navigational instructions offer sufficient safety guarantees.
Any delays or additional risks in Hormuz translate directly into higher energy prices for consumers worldwide, given that nearly one-fifth of globally traded oil passes through the strait.
What comes next?
Whether the truce holds long enough to allow full logistical normalization remains uncertain. Iran has warned it could torpedo the agreement if Israel does not halt its military operations in Lebanon, and the mine threat adds a layer of physical risk that diplomacy alone cannot immediately remove.
For now, oil flows have resumed – but through alternative, untested corridors. As one energy analyst put it: an alternative route is not the same as a safe route. And with only two weeks on the clock, global markets remain on edge.
