Iran is granting several oil tankers from neighbouring Iraq passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.
The granting of a special permit is said to stem from demands made by the Iraqi leadership during Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Baghar Ghalibaf’s visit to Baghdad earlier this week.
The agency did not specify how many tankers from Iraq have passed through the strategically important strait so far, nor whether the special permit applies permanently to vessels from the country.
The authorization was granted against the backdrop of intensified economic pressure from the US on Iran.
Iraq plays a key role for the leadership in Tehran. The two countries are linked by a border approximately 1,600 kilometres long, as well as a close network of political, religious and economic ties.
According to findings by the US Treasury Department, Tehran systematically uses its cooperation with Iraq to circumvent sanctions, including through cross-border smuggling.
Another method, it is claimed, involves mixing Iranian crude or heating oil with Iraqi oil, reclassifying it as Iraqi oil using forged documents, and then selling it on the world market.