The Iranian military said Iraq is exempt from shipping restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz that have strangled global energy flows for weeks.

¡°Brotherly Iraq is exempt from any restrictions we have imposed on the Strait of Hormuz,¡± Iran¡¯s military spokesman said in an Arabic-language video statement published by state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

The declaration has the potential to unleash as much as 3 million barrels a day of Iraqi oil cargoes. It also comes just days after a French container ship and Japanese-owned tanker crossed in what appeared to be the first transits by vessels linked to Western-aligned nations since the the conflict spurred the Islamic Republic to effectively shut waterway.