{"id":41777,"date":"2026-03-29T19:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T19:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/41777\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T19:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T19:30:07","slug":"pakistan-secures-iran-deal-to-send-20-ships-through-strait-of-hormuz-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/41777\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan secures Iran deal to send 20 ships through Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Al
Sunday March 29, 2026<\/p>\n

\"Pakistan
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar hailed Iran’s decision to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz [File: Shamil Zhumatov\/Pool\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Iran has agreed to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz, in what Islamabad has called a meaningful step towards easing one of the worst energy crises in modern history.<\/p>\n

Ishaq Dar, Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister, announced the move on Saturday, posting on X that two ships would cross daily under the arrangement.<\/p>\n

He described Iran\u2019s decision as \u201ca harbinger of peace\u201d, which could help restore stability to a region on the edge, hailing it as a \u201cwelcome and constructive gesture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Notably, he addressed his post directly to US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi, a signal that Islamabad, which is engaged in diplomatic efforts to end the war, views the deal as far more than a bilateral shipping agreement.<\/p>\n

The strait has been effectively shut since the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran on February 28, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and triggering a war that has killed about 2,000 Iranians and more than 1,100 people in Lebanon, and sent shockwaves through global markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Strait of Hormuz is not an oil chokepoint,\u201d former Qatari minister Mohammed Al-Hashemi wrote in a column for Al Jazeera this week. \u201cIt is the aortic valve of globalised production \u2013 and like any valve, when it fails, the entire circulatory system collapses.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an estimated 2,000 vessels are stranded on either side of the narrow waterway, oil has surged past $100 a barrel, up by roughly 40 percent.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has, in the meantime, turned the strait into something resembling a checkpoint. Ships seeking passage must submit their cargo details, crew lists and destinations to IRGC-approved intermediaries, receive a clearance code, and be escorted through Iranian territorial waters.<\/p>\n

At least two vessels have paid for the privilege, reportedly $2m a crossing, settled in Chinese yuan.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s parliament is now moving to legalise this arrangement as a possible source of revenue.<\/p>\n

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Friday that Malaysian ships were permitted to cross the strait as he thanked Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n

Only about 150 vessels have made it through since the war began, roughly one normal day\u2019s traffic. Maritime traffic is down by 90 percent through the waterway.<\/p>\n

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, head of the World Trade Organization, said global trade was experiencing its \u201cworst disruptions in the past 80 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s announcement is the fruit of an intense week of Pakistani diplomacy. Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir spoke to US President Donald Trump on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Dar also held calls with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts.<\/p>\n

Pakistan shares a 900km (560-mile) border with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the parties desire, Islamabad is always willing to host talks,\u201d Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told Al Jazeera last week.<\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, has been making the strait famous in his own way.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a Miami investor forum, he referred to it as the \u201cStrait of Trump\u201d, before catching himself. \u201cExcuse me, I\u2019m so sorry. Such a terrible mistake,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p>\n

Iran has demanded formal international recognition of its authority over the strait as a condition for ending the war. Its parliament is drafting legislation to codify toll collection permanently.<\/p>\n

Sultan Al Jaber, an Emirati minister, said the chokehold was \u201ceconomic terrorism,\u201d warning that \u201cevery nation pays the ransom at the gas pump, at the grocery store, at the pharmacy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump said that Washington has eased strikes on Iranian power plants for five days, a window that closes on Saturday. Israel has said its own strikes will continue regardless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday March 29, 2026 Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar hailed Iran’s decision to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[17820,14085,102,34,591,650,17819,10714,4739,1219,101,6515,603],"class_list":{"0":"post-41777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-strait-of-hormuz","8":"tag-17820","9":"tag-deal","10":"tag-hormuz","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-of","13":"tag-pakistan","14":"tag-secures","15":"tag-send","16":"tag-ships","17":"tag-strait","18":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","19":"tag-through","20":"tag-to"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116314126674168800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}