PUBLISHED ONMay 12, 2026 1:44 PMBYSean LerSingapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday (May 11) spoke to his Iranian counterpart Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and discussed the long-term future of the Strait of Hormuz.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Dr Balakrishnan, who is in on a three-day working visit to Indonesia till Wednesday, said he had a "good candid exchange of views" with Iran's foreign minister.
"We shared our views on the long-term future of the Strait of Hormuz.
"Singapore's consistent position is that all states should enjoy unimpeded right of transit passage through the straits used for international navigation as set forth by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and customary international law," he added.
Dr Balakrishnan also shared Singapore's view that full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is critical to regional stability, global energy security and international trade.
The two leaders also spoke about the issue of nuclear weapons, with Singapore's foreign minister affirming the importance of Iran's continued fulfilment of its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono on Tuesday, Dr Balakrishnan noted that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has impacted energy supplies to Asia, led to inflationary impact due to higher energy prices, and presented "fairly fundamental challenges" to the international rules-based system.
Dr Balakrishnan said he extended an invitation to Araghchi during their call to visit Southeast Asia.
"I took the opportunity to invite him to our region to see — in the midst of great diversity and great potential for development — the importance of regional peace, the importance of a rules-based world order, the importance of abiding by UNCLOS."
He pointed to how Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have been able to maintain the Straits of Malacca — an open, safe and vital waterway — as a positive model that could apply to other areas in the world.
According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Strait of Malacca has consistently moved the highest volume of crude oil and petroleum liquids through it, with the Strait of Hormuz ranking second.
In the first half of 2025, 23.2 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum liquids moved through the Strait of Malacca daily, while the Strait of Hormuz moved 20.9 million.
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