Iran has exempted ships from Iraq, India, China and Qatar from its restrictions on passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian lawmaker has said, Argus Media reported.

Amir Hayat-Moqaddam, deputy chairman of Iran's parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, told the Iranian Students' News Agency that vessels from the four countries “pass freely, and the Americans do not intercept them either”.

He said India and China would pay transit fees, while Qatari vessels pass free of charge, and did not say whether Iraqi ships would have to pay. In return, he said Iran expected medicines from India and political backing from China, while the Iraqi exemption was intended to support the economic recovery of its western neighbour.

IraqiNews reported on 7 November that the exemption had helped Iraq's exports through the strait recover, with maritime analytics firm Kpler putting them at 2.65 million barrels a day in October, up from 1.69 million in August. Iran first exempted Iraqi vessels in April, describing Iraq as a “brotherly” country.

The claims have not been independently verified. Argus noted that the evidence did not appear to support the lawmaker's account, that the exemptions had not been formally confirmed by the Iranian government or the Revolutionary Guards, and that Iraqi-linked vessels had been targeted even after the April exemption. The strait has been effectively shut to most shipping since the war with the United States and Israel began on 28 February, and passage through it remains contested.