The maritime incident involving a
Panamanian-registered ship in the in the Gulf of Oman near the 25th
parallel north that created buzz yesterday has ended; according to certain media reports, the same ship was involved in a similar situation in the region two years ago due to an issue over sanctions - or sanction-busting.
The British maritime agency, MKMTO, which initially reported
the ‘hijacking incident’, now says that the incident is over and those who
boarded the ship without authority, have finally left the ship. In short, the
stand-off is over.
In response to the peaceful end of the incident, the
crude oil prices recovered sightly in the early hours on Wednesday from the losses they suffered yesterday, only to fall again, mainly due
to the rising tension in the region, especially in the Gulf of Oman and of
course, the Strait of Hormuz.
The tension started building in the region due to a
deadly attack on an Israel-registered tanker on Friday, last week in which the Romanian
captain of the ship died along with a British security officer.
Attacks of some form recently on oil tankers are
nothing new in the troubled region: there had been mysterious explosions on
board the ships in the past.
The attack in question, however, is significant,
because in the previous incidents, there was no loss of life.
The US, UK and Israel meanwhile threatened Iran with
what they call, a ‘proportionate response’, without elaborating further;
Israel, meanwhile, says it will deal with the incident in its own way.
Iran denied its involvement in both incidents; it
simply believes the enemies are setting stage for hostile acts.
Having sensed the pulse of the forthcoming response
to the attacks, not only did Iran offer protection for the vessels through the
Strait of Hormuz, but also promised assistance in the event of potential
trouble; Iran says it wants the passage, through which a fifth of crude oil
shipments pass every day, to be trouble-free.
Iran clearly does not want the ‘proportional reaction’,
threatened by the US, spoil the inauguration of the new president, scheduled on
Thursday.
The new president of Iran, Mr Ebrahim Raisi, who is portrayed
as a pragmatist, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that he will work to get the
sanctions lifted – the first clear indication of the attitude of the new
administration towards reviving the JCPOA, 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Analysts believe if Iran comes up with an
explanation instead of denials over the two maritime incidents, there is still
room for restarting negotiations over the JCPOA in the coming weeks; there have
already been six rounds of negotiations with each making some progress; the gap
between Iran and the rest of the signatories to the deal has narrowed down as
well, in proportion to the relative success of the talks.
In this context, the response from the US and Israel
to the attacks remains to be seen; it is not going to make negotiations any
easier; on the other hand, the economic situation in Iran, the ground reality,
does not let Iran stubbornly refuse to take the talks forward either; the
circumstances have forced Iran to walk the tight rope.
