Iran opens oil terminal in Gulf of Oman to bypass Strait of Hormuz
Iran has opened its first oil
terminal in the Gulf of Oman, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday, to
allow Iranian tankers to avoid using the strategically vulnerable Strait of
Hormuz, which has been a focus of regional tension for decades.
"This is a strategic move
and an important step for Iran. It will secure the continuation of our oil
exports," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "This new crude export
terminal shows the failure of Washington's sanctions on Iran."
Rouhani said Iran aimed to export
1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Bandar-e Jask, a port on Iran’s
Gulf of Oman coast, just south of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has often threatened to
block the Strait if its crude exports were shutdown by U.S. sanctions,
reimposed by Washington three years ago when then president Donald Trump
abandoned Tehran's nuclear deal with six major powers.
Tehran and U.S. President Joe
Biden's administration have been in indirect talks in Vienna since early April
to revive the deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in
return for the lifting of most international sanctions.
"The implementation of the
Goreh-Jask port crude oil transfer project took place with about $2 billion
investment," Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said, according to the
ministry's SHANA website.
The Strait is a narrow channel at
the mouth of the Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes
from Middle East producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and
beyond.
There have been periodic
confrontations between Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and the U.S. military
in the area.
