On the Strait of Hormuz, BBC finds seized ships and shark fishermen as uneasy calm returns
It's a sweltering summer's day and fishermen are unloading their catch on the docks. One proudly holds several baby sharks tangled in his nets. Shark
It's a sweltering summer's day and fishermen are unloading their catch on the docks. One proudly holds several baby sharks tangled in his nets. Shark sandwich is a local delicacy, he explains. Another rides off with two large fish strung over his motorbike. In many ways this looks like an ordinary fishing port, but the docks are in Bandar Abbas, an Iranian city on the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most vital shipping lanes and a key focal point of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
This is the first time international journalists have visited the Iranian side of the strait since the conflict began. When the US and Israel launched attacks on 28 February, the Iranian regime responded by attacking Israel and neighbouring Gulf states hosting US forces and turned its geography into one of its greatest sources of leverage. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) began firing on commercial ships attempting to go through the strait without its permission, effectively making the waterway impassable.
Seafarers from around the world were stranded and oil prices surged, pushing up the cost of energy and fuel, along with a vast range of goods that are shipped around the world. The US retaliated with a blockade of its own, targeting any ships using Iran's Gulf ports. As a result, these waters have been too dangerous to fish for months.
Many fishermen stopped going out, while others continued, knowing they were heading into a battlefield.
The BriefWire