Iran's smart management plan for Strait of Hormuz submitted to parliament for review: official

A strategic proposal for smart management of the Strait of Hormuz has been uploaded to Iran's parliament for review and approval, a senior lawmaker said Wednesday.

The plan has reached its final stage in the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, the commission's head Ebrahim Azizi said.

Azizi said the proposal aims to use Iran's geographic position in the strategic waterway as a "power-generating leverage."

Regional tensions have escalated since the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, triggering retaliation from Tehran against Israel as well as U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire took effect on April 8 after 40 days of fighting through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. The truce was later extended by U.S. President Donald Trump without a set deadline.

The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical strategic corridor handling one-quarter of global seaborne oil trade, as well as significant volumes of liquefied natural gas and vital fertilizers, have throttled global energy flows and caused fertilizer prices to spike.

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday launched mutual drone strikes, with both claiming to shoot down hundreds of each other's drones.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in its latest report that the Russian forces launched attacks on energy and transport facilities of Ukrainian forces, drone assembly, storage and launch sites, ammunition depots, as well as positions of Ukrainian troops and foreign fighters.

The ministry also said that the Russian air forces shot down 572 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones.

On the same day, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Russia launched 753 drones of various types between 8:00 and 18:30 local time, mainly targeting western regions of the country.

The preliminary data showed that the Ukrainian air forces destroyed 710 of Russian drones, the Ukrainian side said.