China urges calm over Hormuz, says talks can ease tensions

US restrictions on Iran’s vessels are illegal and “amount to piracy,” Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Monday and warned that Tehran would impose a permanent mechanism to control the Strait of Hormuz after US threats to blockade it.

“If the security of the Islamic Republic’s ports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will remain safe,” said the headquarters’ spokesman.

He added that, after the end of the war, Iran would enforce a lasting mechanism for controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

The US plan for a naval blockade of Iran’s ports shows “confusion and a lack of a proper and workable strategy,” said an Iranian lawmaker on Monday.

Vahid Ahmadi, a member of parliament’s national security committee, said any maritime blockade of the Islamic Republic would lead to wider global energy crises.

“The first place where it would create a flood is the economy of Western countries and the Americans,” he said.

He added that the United States had believed it could achieve at the negotiating table at least some of what it failed to gain in war.

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil sales to China are set to halve in May as the war in the Middle East disrupts flows and pushes up prices, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing traders familiar with the matter.

The world’s biggest oil exporter is expected to ship about 20 million barrels to its customers in China next month.

That compares with roughly 40 million barrels allocated for loading in April.

The traders said the lower volumes reflected market disruption linked to the regional conflict, which has affected supply routes and lifted crude prices.

The figure marked a 68% increase from the 975 executions recorded in 2024, according to a joint annual report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty.

If the Islamic Republic “survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression,” read the report.

The report said 48 women were among those executed.

The two groups said the sharp rise pointed to a broader use of the death penalty as a tool of intimidation.

Japan was closely watching developments between the United States and Iran, diplomatic efforts by related countries, and situation around the Strait of Hormuz, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on Monday.

“The most important thing is that the situation is actually calmed down,” Kihara told a news conference, and voiced hope that diplomacy would lead to an agreement.

Asked whether Japan could take part in operations such as clearing sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Kihara said no decision had been made on any deployment forces.