Chinese shipping giant Cosco halts services to and from Gulf

Chinese shipping giant Cosco, which operates one of the world's biggest oil tanker fleets, announced it was suspending services to and from Gulf countries from Wednesday, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.

The state-owned, Shanghai-based firm is among several major shipping groups that have halted vessel operations in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy transit.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed total control of the strait on Wednesday as Israel launched a new wave of strikes on the Iranian capital.

Cosco Shipping Lines said it would "suspend all new bookings" for routes through the Strait of Hormuz "with immediate effect until further notice".

The company blamed the disruption on "the escalating conflicts in the Middle East region and the resultant restrictions on maritime traffic" in the strait.

New worldwide bookings bound for Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and parts of the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been halted, the company said in a statement.

It has also suspended services from Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and parts of the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, along with the UAE's Khor Fakkan and Fujairah, are excluded from the suspensions and can be reached without passage through the Hormuz Strait.

Cosco said it was closely monitoring developments in the Middle East.

Other shipping giants including Maersk and MSC have also announced they have halted operations in the region.