Malaysia says Iran has allowed its ships through Hormuz Strait

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - KUALA LUMPUR — Iran has allowed Malaysian vessels trapped in the Gulf to return home through the Thursday evening, accordding to the country's prime minister.

In a televised address on Thursday, Anwar Ibrahim expressed thanks to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian for granting Malaysian vessels “early clearance” through the Strait of Hormuz.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the president of Iran for granting early passage,” Anwar said. “We are now in the process of securing the release of Malaysian oil tankers and workers involved, so that they can continue their journey home.”

The narrow waterway has been all but closed since US and Israeli strikes against Iran began almost a month ago, upending global energy markets and trapping hundreds of tankers and other vessels. Malaysia is a significant oil and gas producer, but it also imports crude from the Middle East and is heavily dependent on the strait.

Countries across Asia have imposed a variety of fuel-saving measures including work-from-home arrangements for civil servants, and Anwar called for the private sector to consider similar measures as an energy crunch deepens.

Anwar did not elaborate on how many vessels had cleared the strait, which normally facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, or under what conditions the vessels were cleared for safe passage.

Anwar said that while Malaysia had been affected by the disruption to energy supplies, the Southeast Asian country was in a “much better position” than other nations due to the capacity of the state-run oil and gas company Petronas.

Anwar said his government would take a series of measures to conserve fuel, including reducing the individual monthly quota for subsidised petrol and “gradually and selectively” moving civil servants onto work-from-home arrangements.

“Food supplies are affected; prices will certainly rise. Fertiliser as well, and of course, oil and gas,” Anwar said.

“So there are steps we need to take. There are countries whose impacts are far worse than ours, but that does not mean we are spared entirely,” he said.

While Iran has stated that the strait is open to ships that are not aligned with the US or Israel, Tehran has claimed the right to exercise control over the waterway and admitted responsibility for at least two of 20 documented attacks on commercial vessels in the region.

Iran’s parliament is also pushing legislation that would establish a toll system in the strait amid reports that Iranian authorities have been demanding vessels fork over as much as $2m to guarantee their safe passage.

Five ships were tracked transiting the strait via their automatic identification systems on Wednesday, up from four the previous day, according to maritime intelligence company Windward.

Before the war, it said an average of 120 vessels transited the waterway each day.