- South Korea told Iran no decision has been made on a possible deployment in the Strait of Hormuz and stressed restoring freedom of navigation.
- Tehran warned South Korea any military contribution would have serious consequences after Seoul said it might contribute to Strait security.
- Seoul sent a fact-finding team; traffic through the vital shipping route is virtually paralysed and Iran-US negotiations are stalled.
South Korea’s foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart on Friday that no decision had been made on a possible military deployment in the Strait of Hormuz, Seoul said.
Tehran has warned South Korea against any such deployment after Seoul said it was weighing a “contribution” to the waterway’s security.
Top South Korean diplomat Cho Hyun spoke by phone with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at Tehran’s request, “discussing the recent situation in the Middle East” and the Strait of Hormuz, the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a statement.
A ministry official said Cho “conveyed our position that no decision has been made regarding a possible deployment and stressed the importance of restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressured ally South Korea to provide help for the war in the Middle East, saying Seoul rejected his request for assistance in securing the waterway that is crucial to global oil supplies.
Friday’s phone call followed a warning from Tehran earlier this week that any South Korean military contribution to the conflict would have “serious consequences”.
South Korea said it had sent a fact-finding team to assess the situation in the strait.
Traffic through the vital shipping route has been virtually paralysed since the US-Iran war began on February 28, disrupting global energy markets.
Negotiations between Iran and the United States have stalled as they vied for control over Hormuz, which normally carries around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports.
