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However, US Central Command said the two warships have transited Hormuz at the start of an operation to clear the strategic waterway of mines laid by Iran.

“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage, and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” said Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper.

The development came after US President Donald Trump claimed mine-clearing operations were ongoing in the strait.

Iran recently announced alternative shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz due to the high risk of underwater mines in the main channel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a navigation plan to ensure maritime safety, requiring inbound vessels to pass north of Larak Island and outbound traffic to move south of it.

Various sources also said Iran was seeking to impose a toll on ships in cryptocurrency during the ceasefire.

Tehran’s blockade of the strait -- a chokepoint for about 20 per cent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments -- since the start of the war at the end of February has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices soaring.

The Liberia-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Serifos and China-flagged VLCCs Cospearl Lake and He Rong Hai entered and exited the “Hormuz Passage trial anchorage”, which bypasses Iran’s Larak Island, yesterday, LSEG data showed. Each vessel is capable of carrying about 2 million barrels of oil.

Serifos, carrying crude loaded from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early March, is expected to arrive at Malaysia’s Malacca port on April 21, according to LSEG and analytics firm Kpler.

Cospearl Lake is laden with Iraqi oil, while He Rong Hai is carrying Saudi crude. Both vessels are chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese energy giant Sinopec, the data showed.

As talks got underway in Islamabad, Trump posted a series of messages on his Truth Social platform.

“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote in one post, calling it “a favour” to countries such as China, Japan and France that “don’t have the courage or will to do this work themselves”.

US officials did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment on the reports.