CNN: Hormuz Strait “in chaos” despite the US-Iran agreement

Three different routes for ships have already been set up on this water route, while various authorities are trying to control their passage.

A southern route passes through the waters near Oman; a second route, used before the war, runs through the middle of the strait; and a third route, farther north, is controlled by Iran.

This leaves shipping operators in the face of a difficult choice as to which route they should follow, CNN writes.

If ships choose routes that are not controlled by Iran, they risk being attacked. If they comply with Tehran's demands and use Iranian route, they fear the danger of Western sanctions if the agreement fails.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has condemned routes that were not approved by Tehran as unacceptable “”. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arghchi warned on Sunday that any efforts “to create parallel agreements would only... increase tensions and delay the reopening of this vital water route”, without specifying which alternative agreements were referred to.

Matthew Wright, the freight transport analyst at the Kpler shipping intelligence company, said that if disputes are not resolved by mid-August, “we can end up seeing all three routes be used in a more chaotic and less secure way”.

It is clear that there is a huge gap between what the US say and what Iranians say”. “We are in a very chaotic period”. /Periscope/