Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East.
IRGC warned that oil and gas export routes serving the US and its allies could be targeted if the conflict continues, signalling the possibility of further action against regional shipping and energy infrastructure. “The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.
This comes as the US military reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports today over Tehran’s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US first imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear program, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has intensified.
When the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively shut the passage by attacking and threatening ships. That sent the price of oil, fertilizer and other goods soaring. Iran has more recently attacked ships moving through the strait on a route near Oman overseen by the US military that is outside Tehran’s control, setting off the recent violence.
Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran and both nations’ attempts to assert control of the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime threaten to push the region back to all-out war.
US President Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade on Monday, saying that he would also impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. Trump’s plan to charge fees would have been a change to longstanding American policy and a departure from US promises that the strait would remain open to all without tolls. However, he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade, citing requests from allies in the Persian Gulf.
Shipping data showed that the number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz ticked up on Tuesday, with most of them linked to Iranian trade, before a US blockade took effect today, Wednesday. Nine of the 11 vessels that passed through the strait on Tuesday sailed via the Iranian route, according to the ship-tracking data on Kpler.
Vessels that exited the strait with Iranian exports included one VLCC carrying 2 million barrels of crude, a medium-range tanker with refined products, and two tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas, the data showed.
There were no visible entries or exits for tankers to load oil and gas from other Gulf producers on Tuesday. “The next phase of Gulf flow recovery could be slower than the initial phase even after geopolitical de-escalation,” Goldman Sachs said in a note today.
US, Iran Launch Attacks As Blockade Is Reimposed
Both US and Iran launched attacks as the blockade was reimposed.The US military’s Central Command said today that the US carried out another wave of strikes as it reimposed the blockade, striking dozens of targets over seven hours.
Missile alert warnings went out in Bahrain and Kuwait early this morning as they faced incoming Iranian fire, something that’s been a daily occurrence, further straining a ceasefire in the war. Jordan also said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries. “US forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” Cooper said.
There are at least 19 US warships in the Arabian Sea, including two aircraft carriers and an amphibious assault ship with more than 1,000 Marines aboard. Central Command also said in a social media post that there are “hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East.”
Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized America’s ongoing attacks targeting his country. “The U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim,” he wrote to the world body’s leader, according to the state-run news agency.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi accused the US of destroying the MoU and violating all its obligations under the agreement.
He said that Iran currently has no commitments under the MoU, including regarding the Strait of Hormuz, and that the US is mistaken if it believes it can push Tehran back into negotiations by imposing its own blockade.
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