Iran Says It Closed Strait of Hormuz

Iranian state-run media outlets reported that Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to all maritime traffic on June 20. Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that commercial traffic in the critical waterway has increased.

Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters issued a statement to state-run media on Saturday suggesting the closure was a reaction to “the explicit breach of the first clause of the post-war memorandum of understanding by the United States” and Israel’s “ongoing violations of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon.”

The regime previously agreed to keep the crucial waterway, located on the southwest coast of Iran, open without tolls for 60 days, according to the memorandum signed on June 17 by the United States and Iran.

On Saturday morning after Iran claimed the waterway was closed, CENTCOM said in a statement on X that “Commercial ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz increased June 20.”

“Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets,” CENTCOM wrote in an X post.

CENTCOM responded to The Epoch Times’ request for more information by pointing to its Saturday morning statement on X.

Despite claims that the waterway was closed, traffic was seemingly still going through on Saturday, according to data provided by the tracking platform Marine Vessel Traffic.

In an interview Saturday morning on Fox News, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said he did not see any evidence that the Strait was closed and still believed the deal between Washington and Tehran would hold.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said on Saturday that terrorist group Hezbollah broke the ceasefire, not Israel.

“Israel is honoring the ceasefire while defending itself against terrorist attacks, as any self-respecting country would,” Leiter wrote in a post on X.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an X post on Saturday that the terrorist group had violated the ceasefire.

“Hezbollah launched 50+ projectiles toward IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon,” the IDF said.

Talks between the United States, Iran, Qatar, and Pakistan were supposed to begin at the Bürgenstock mountaintop resort overlooking Lake Lucerne in Switzerland on June 19 but were postponed, according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

The Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced technical-level talks will take place on June 21 instead.

Representatives from the United States and Iran, alongside mediators from Pakistan and Qatar, are expected to attend.

Just a few hours before Pakistan’s announcement of the new meeting date, Vance told “Fox and Friends Weekend” that preparations were underway for him to travel to Switzerland, but nothing was officially set.

“I expect that I will leave sometime in the next couple of days, but you know it’s always ⁠a delicate coordination dance and the diplomatic protocols,” Vance said.

Vance noted that U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already there “dealing with some of the technical elements of ​this negotiation.”

Guy Birchall, Troy Myers, and Reuters contributed to this report.