China is negotiating with Iran to secure safe passage of oil and liquefied natural gas tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, transit that has been heavily disrupted amid the U.S. and Israel-Iran war, according to three diplomatic sources quoted by Reuters on March 5.

Tehran recently announced that vessels owned by U.S., European, Israeli and other Western allies would not be granted passage through the strait. On March 5, data analytics company Kpler reported that tanker transits through the strait were down 90% versus the previous week. Another Reuters source in the sugar industry claimed that a small number of ships are still transiting the Strait of Hormuz, despite the war, but that they are all owned by China or Iran.