Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that the U.S. maritime blockade and military operations against Iran serve as the major obstacle to the full resumption of safe and free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking at a press briefing, Baghaei stressed that the current tensions over the strait do not stem from differences between Iran and Oman. The two countries have reached initial consensus on temporary routes for commercial vessels and are holding further consultations on the details of a joint statement.
He emphasized that full and safe navigation of the Strait of Hormuz cannot be restored as long as the United States continues its maritime blockade and military activities targeting Iran.
Baghaei also noted that diplomatic means alone cannot lift the maritime blockade. Iran will adopt a combination of military and diplomatic measures to safeguard its national interests, he said.
US maritime blockade hinders reopening of Strait of Hormuz: Iran Foreign Ministry
Tokyo stocks ended higher Monday, driven by the strong performance of artificial intelligence stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, ended up 1,363.51 points, or 2.08 percent, from Friday at 66,970.22.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 25.68 points, or 0.63 percent, higher at 4,100.61.
"Over in Tokyo today the market jumped pretty sharply - up 2 percent on some strong AI stocks. Advantest was up 6.4 percent and fiber-optic cable maker Fujikura was up a bit more than 7.5 percent. And IBIDEN, another Nvidia supplier, rose by 4 percent as well," said Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Pope noted that investors are set to pay close attention to Tokyo-listed growth stocks and exporter stocks as the country's central bank is likely to take a hawkish stance on rate hike.
"But today the Bank of Japan also gave us some reasons to keep a bit of a careful eye on Japanese interest rates because their July meeting summary was notably hawkish. Some policymakers were talking about the need to speed up rate hikes to stop inflation from overshooting their target 2 percent. A rate hike would not be good news for growth stocks in Japan and combined with the stronger yen after last week's currency intervention, it could also hit exporter stocks," he said.
Tokyo shares surge on AI stock rally: analyst
