A total of 19 Cypriot-flagged ships remain near the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping deputy ministry said on Thursday.

“There are currently 19 ships under the Cypriot flag in the Arabian Gulf region. Both the ships and the seafarers working on them are safe,” it told the Cyprus Mail.

It added that the majority of those ships “operate on a permanent basis in the region” under the Cypriot flag, and that they “mainly provide specialised or auxiliary maritime services”.

“Essentially, only one Cypriot ship is loaded with cargo, which is waiting to depart from the region when conditions permit,” it said.

It was then asked whether the Cypriot ships have the right to cross the Strait of Hormuz, in light of reports that Greek-flagged fuel tankers have crossed the strait in recent days, with Bloomberg reporting that the Suezmax Pola, which was in the Persian Gulf on March 10, was spotted in the Indian Ocean near Indonesia on Monday.

“At this time, safe passage through the strait is not guaranteed” was the answer.

The comments come a day after Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos took part in an international teleconference on the strait convened by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

There, Kombos had stressed that Cyprus is “in favour of maintaining freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.

However, despite reports that the governments of France and Italy have been engaged in talks with Iran to secure passage through the strait, Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis had earlier told the Cyprus Mail that Cyprus is not involved in any negotiations with the Iranian government to this end.

“We are not involved in any such talks regarding the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, given our position as the holder of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, and as a member state of the EU, we are closely monitoring the developments and we are working to find avenues for common actions with our partners in the EU,” she told the Cyprus Mail.

She added that the Cypriot government has not yet received any “official information” from either France or Italy regarding any negotiations with the Iranian government related to the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz is a chokepoint between the most northerly point of Oman and Iran’s southern coast, which provides the only seaborne access between the Persian Gulf and the open ocean.

Typically, around 20 per cent of global oil passes through the strait, including European imports from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

As such, its current closure could, in the worst-case scenario, predicate spikes in energy prices and even energy shortages.