A “new normal” of heightened risk and uncertain regulation is impacting the Strait of Hormuz, shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd warned Sunday, as military strikes escalated and conflicting routing directives plunged the waterway into operational chaos.

The remarks from the German shipping giant also came as Tehran “simultaneously” began moving millions of barrels of crude oil from Kharg Island for the first time in days, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward AI.

“At Kharg, the T-Jetty and Western Terminal loaded simultaneously for the first time in days; the East Waiting Area holds 28 tankers, 27 dark, signaling the Iranian crude export cycle restarting,” Windward AI said in a post on X.

The outbound cargo consists of an estimated 4.12 million barrels of wet cargo, including crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons. Of that total, about 3.91 million barrels are crude oil, analytics firm Vortexa said.

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“We have to acknowledge that this is for some months the new normal in the Persian Gulf region,” Hapag-Lloyd AG spokesperson Hanja Maria Richter told Fox News Digital.

“The situation has been fluid for us since the beginning of the conflict,” she said before adding that constant vigilance has become essential to operating in the region.

“We have been making and still make regular risk and situation assessments with our security partners, all relevant authorities and our people on shore and, of course, on the vessels,” Richter said.

“It is a region in conflict, so we consider this with every single ship we move in the region and assess the risks for every vessel and its crew individually.”

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Richter’s remarks came as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) launched airstrikes against Iranian targets, including Qeshm Island on June 26 after a vessel was struck in the strait.

This prompted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to retaliate by targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. 

Adding to the strike risk is a tug-of-war over control of the transit lanes.

Lloyd’s List described the fracturing of the waterway as a “confused, two-tier system now operating in the strait, which remains split between the Iran-controlled northern route and a U.S.-protected southern ‘highway,’ with the pre-war routes rendered unusable because of the risk of mines, separating them.”

Iran is responsible for managing and fully reopening maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz under recent understandings, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, according to Iran International.

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Iranian state television said that passage through the Strait of Hormuz demands coordination with the IRGC.

Hapag-Lloyd pushed back against any future attempts to weaponize or monetize passage through the critical global chokepoint.

“It would be fundamentally wrong to impose fees for passage through international waters,” Richter said.

“Fees for infrastructure such as the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal are a different matter, as they reflect major infrastructure investments. That is not the case with the Strait of Hormuz.”

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While thousands of crew members remain caught by conflicting naval directives, Hapag-Lloyd said it had successfully navigated the initial bottleneck.

“Good news is that we were able to have all Hapag-Lloyd vessels that were affected by the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz and had been waiting in the Persian Gulf depart safely from the Gulf,” Richter noted before adding that “the safety of our crews is our highest priority.”

Thousands of guests, including diplomats, politicians and military personnel, attended an event organised by the US Embassy to Belgium in Brussels on Sunday to celebrate the 250th anniversary of US independence.

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“The US Embassy in Belgium will host an invitation-only celebration to celebrate this historic milestone: 250 Years of Independence: Building Our Future Together.

The lavish celebration took place at Parc du Cinquantenaire, an iconic park in the Belgian capital near the European Union institutions. Guests tried their hand at baseball, rode a mechanical bull and participated in a linedance.

The festivities also featured music, performances, a ceremonial flyover and will conclude with a drone and firework show.

US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White opened the ceremony. Among those attending were Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Parliament president Roberta Metsola.

In a post on X, Metsola honoured 250 years of the transatlantic partnership that has weathered both triumphs and challenges alike.

Many US military personnel based in the Belgian capital were also in attendance.

Asked about funding, the US ambassador said he had raised more than five million dollars from over 220 donors, Belgian media report.

Both American and Belgian companies, as well as private individuals contributed, according to White. Sponsors include American multinationals such as Meta, Microsoft, Nike and McDonald’s, alongside Belgian names such as Leonidas, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Sabena, Van Moer Logistics and Sibelco.

Criticism: the privatisation of a public space

The event, however, drew widespread criticism from local residents and numerous organisations.

On Sunday morning, Greenpeace unrolled a massive banner in the historic Grand Place square in the Belgian capital.

“The 600-square-metre banner read ‘War. Greed. Energy Crisis. What’s there to celebrate?‘ condemning using the occasion to promote Trump’s political and corporate agenda,” Greenpeace wrote in a statement.

“The celebration in Brussels takes place against a backdrop of intensifying global instability driven by the White House,” the statement added.

Outside of the security perimetre of the park, several activist groups, including Extinction Rebellion, Indivisible Belgium and Rise for Climate denounced the event, protesting against the privatisation of the public park.

Local residents also expressed their discontent, unhappy with the lack of communication surrounding the event, but also with the multi-day closure of one of the city’s largest public parks amid an ongoing heatwave that has swept across Europe the past week.

Search-and-rescue crews in Venezuela pulled 33 people alive from collapsed buildings over the weekend after twin earthquakes devastated the country’s northern coast, but officials and aid workers warned Sunday that time was rapidly running out for nearly 50,000 still feared missing.

The death toll stood at 1,430 as of late Saturday, according to The Associated Press. More than 3,000 have been injured and roughly the same number are living in shelters, according to Venezuelan authorities.

The worst devastation is concentrated in coastal La Guaira state, where entire apartment blocks, hotels and public housing buildings pancaked after magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck in quick succession Wednesday. Hundreds of aftershocks have continued to rattle damaged neighborhoods, complicating rescue work and keeping survivors outside in the heat.

Among the 33 rescued were an infant removed alive from rubble by U.S. rescuers, an 11-year-old boy found by a Colombian team after a scanner detected him about 10 feet below the surface, and another 11-year-old rescued by Mexican crews in Caraballeda.

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“In these hours each life is hope for Venezuela,” Acting President Delcy Rodríguez wrote on X after one of the rescues.

Swiss rescue-team leader Sebastian Eugster told Reuters that the odds of finding survivors drop sharply after roughly 72 hours under rubble. That mark passed Saturday evening.

“There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 hours, where the probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive,” Eugster said.

The missing toll remains highly uncertain. The government has spoken of hundreds missing or trapped, while some estimated just under 50,000 people as missing Sunday, down from 55,000 a day earlier. The AP reported that families had listed 68,900 people missing Saturday, underscoring the chaos in accounting for the dead, the displaced and those cut off by communications failures.

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With the desperation of the survival window closing as the days and hours wear on, Starlink has provided communication services for the humanitarian crisis.

“Starlink Mobile is providing free connectivity to @MovistarVe customers in the La Guaira region, and we are working to provide free service for @DigitelAyuda and @movilnet_ve customers as quickly as possible,” Starlink posted Sunday to X.

“Families, communities and businesses with compatible LTE smartphones can now stay connected through SMS even if terrestrial networks are not available and customer phones will automatically connect to Starlink Mobile. Coverage will work best with a clear view of the sky.”

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Pope Leo on Sunday expressed solidarity with survivors and victims’ families holding out hope.

“I wish to express my closeness to the Venezuelan sisters and brothers affected by the recent earthquakes that caused numerous victims and injuries,” the pontiff said in Spanish before worshippers gathered for Sunday’s Angelus prayer in Rome.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.