Iran establishes new body over Strait of Hormuz

Iran on Monday announced the establishment of its Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) to exercise management over the Strait of Hormuz, while launching the new agency's official social media account to provide real-time updates on developments in the strategic waterway.

On the same day, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced via its official news outlet Sepah News that all fiber-optic cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz subject to its permit, supervision and toll after Iran exercises management over maritime traffic in the waterway.

Citing relevant reports, officials noted that the undersea communications network beneath the Strait of Hormuz carries over 10 trillion U.S. dollars' worth of global financial transaction data daily. Any disruption to this critical communications hub could cause direct and indirect losses ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per day to regional and global economic, financial, and energy supply chains.

The U.S. dollar softened in late trading on Monday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, dropped 0.09 percent to 99.192 at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.1637 dollars from 1.1630 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound added to 1.3411 dollars from 1.3332 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 159.01 Japanese yen, higher than 158.68 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar lost to 0.7856 Swiss francs from 0.7865 Swiss francs, and it rose to 1.3749 Canadian dollars from 1.3739 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar was down to 9.4093 Swedish kronor from 9.4374 Swedish kronor.