Strait of Hormuz

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The UK will deploy one of its warships to the Middle East as part of planning for a European-led mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz once there’s a stable ceasefire.

HMS Dragon, a Type-45 warship capable of destroying guided missiles, is likely to form part of the UK’s offer for the defensive naval mission, designed to reassure commercial ships attempting to pass through the waterway. Such a mission will only begin once sustained ceasefire or peace deal is agreed to.

“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the Strait, when conditions allow,” a spokesperson for the UK Ministry of Defence said.

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WASHINGTON: A US Navy warplane fired on and disabled the rudder of an oil tanker that tried to break Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports, the US military said on Wednesday (May 6).

It is the second time the US military has fired on a ship it said was attempting to violate the blockade, which has been in place since April 13.

US forces warned the Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, which was unladen, that it was in violation of the blockade, but its crew “failed to comply,” so a US F/A-18 Super Hornet “disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from (its) 20mm cannon gun,” Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.

“Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran,” CENTCOM said, adding: “The US blockade against ships attempting to enter or depart Iranian ports remains in full effect.”

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California has finally won its drawn-out battle against fossil fuels.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democrat politicians, eco-activists, and the elite media have long made the oil firms the enemy and made them a target of regulatory attack. A few examples:

Well, the state may have won the war…as the last California-bound oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since war erupted is now offloading its shipment at the Port of Long Beach.

The New Corolla loaded up in Iraq on Feb. 24 — just days before U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, plunging the region into turmoil and sparking a double blockade of commercial shipping.

In two weeks, the Hong Kong-flagged tanker will have fully unloaded at the Marathon Petroleum terminal and departed again for distant waters. After that, California must figure out how to replace some 200,000 barrels of oil a day that will no longer be arriving from the Persian Gulf.

California’s own supply of crude oil has been declining since the 1980s, due to aging fields and a geology that makes drilling particularly costly. The state’s gasoline refining capacity is also falling off, increasing reliance on imports and highlighting California’s status as an isolated energy island without gas pipelines to bring in supply from other states.

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President Donald Trump said on Tuesday evening that he is pausing the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz to allow time for a deal to end the Iran war, but that the American forces’ blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.

Trump announced the decision in a social media post, saying the effort — which started on Monday in the vital waterway for global energy — would pause for a short period to see whether an agreement with Tehran on ending the war in the Middle East could be finalized.

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Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley: The ship the U.S. seized in the Strait of Hormuz this weekend was headed from China to Iran and is linked to chemical shipments for missiles. It refused repeated orders to stop. Another reminder that China is helping prop up Iran’s regime—a reality that can’t be ignored (Haley).

Wall Street Journal: The Iranian cargo ship seized by U.S. forces in the Gulf of Oman this weekend is part of a fleet that often sails to China, one of Tehran’s most important backers—and includes vessels that have been accused of transporting chemicals for Iran’s ballistic-missile program. The ship, the MV Touska, visited the southern China port of Zhuhai twice in the six weeks before it was intercepted Sunday on its way to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, according to shipping analysts. The Touska ignored six hours of warnings from the USS Spruance, a guided-missile destroyer, according to the Pentagon

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An Iranian tanker called “Silly City” successfully reached the country’s waters despite a naval blockade and threats from a US Navy task force. According to reports from local media, the vessel reached a southern Iranian port overnight after passing through the Arabian Sea with full security and operational support from Iran’s navy.

“Despite numerous warnings and threats from the US Navy Fleet Group, the Iranian oil tanker Silly City, with the operational support of the Iranian Navy and in full safety, entered Iran’s territorial waters last night after crossing the Arabian Sea,” the Iranian military said in a statement on Tuesday.

Shipping industry intelligence site Lloyd’s List reported that more than 20 Iranian so-called “shadow vessels” had transited past the US blockade

The Strait of Hormuz in peacetime sees around 120 daily transits, according to the site.

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WASHINGTON/CAIRO/ISLAMABAD, April 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had seized a tanker linked to Iran in international waters, its latest apparent action to enforce a blockade, with time running out on a ceasefire and the prospect of last-ditch further peace talks still up in the air.

Washington has expressed confidence that talks with Iran will go ahead in Pakistan, and a senior Iranian official said Tehran was considering joining. But with the final hours of a two-week truce ticking by, there was little time left for the talks.

The U.S. military said it had boarded the tanker Tifani “without incident”. The ship, capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude, last reported its position on Tuesday morning as near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, according to MarineTraffic tracking data. It was close to fully loaded and had signaled Singapore as its destination.

“As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran — anywhere they operate,” U.S. Central Command said.

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The U.N. Navy is aggressively enforcing the blockade against Iran, according to a U.S. official who said two oil tankers attempting to leave Iran were intercepted and turned back by an American destroyer on Tuesday.

The unnamed U.S. official told Reuters that two tankers departed from Iran’s port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, only to be intercepted by a U.S. Navy destroyer that instructed them by radio to turn around. Both ships complied with the order.

Chabahar is a port city on the southeastern coast of Iran. It was originally constructed in 1983, to give Iran alternatives to shipping through the Persian Gulf during the long and bloody Iran-Iraq War.

In recent years, the Indian government made about $500 million in investments to expand the two major port complexes at Chabahar, giving them more deep-water berths for large cargo vessels.

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President Trump says leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak Thursday, as Washington pushes to ease hostilities after the rivals’ first direct talks in decades on Tuesday.

“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon,” Mr. Trump said late Wednesday on his Truth Social platform, apparently referring to the meeting held in Washington the day before – the first direct negotiations between senior officials from the two countries since 1993 — and to Thursday’s planned discussion.

He didn’t identify Thursday’s participants or give details but said, “It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Nice!”

Israeli Army Radio, also known as GLZ Radio, said Thursday that, “Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel confirmed in an interview that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.”

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The American military says the blockade of the vital shipping route has been “fully implemented”

American warships have effectively blocked Iranian trade through the Strait of Hormuz, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said.

“A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as US forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East,” CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in a statement on Tuesday evening.

“In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, US forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea,” Cooper added.

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… The U.S. ‘blockade’ of Iranian ports around the Strait of Hormuz (SOH) is under a week old.  When the U.S. naval blockade was announced, some worried it would make things worse by further enraging Iran or the rogue Iranian military, who may then attack ship traffic, ports, or people.  Thankfully, it’s been relatively calm. However we may be just one drone strike, one stray Iranian missile, or one nasty Hormuz mine blast from an escalation.  An assault directly on an American warship would send oil prices soaring.  It’s a scary and tentative time.

That said…

MY TAKE → The Strait of Hormuz is not as important to global energy as it was just a few weeks ago.  Here’s why.  Over the past few years, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have very smartly built back-up pipelines. Those pipelines – a whopping 7 million barrels per day capacity in Saudi and about 1.5 million per day flowing across the UAE have – have cut the flow of shipborne oil out of the Hormuz by half.

We know the Strait matters massively to more than just oil.  I’ve been very clear on concerns about shortages of fertilizer, jet fuel, other refined products and even helium for semiconductor manufacturing.  Even if the Strait returns to pre-war shipping levels soon – by the way, something absolutely no one is counting on – it could take months to get back to any state of normal for energy and related supply chains.

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As the United States Navy enforces a full blockade of Iranian ports and conducts minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz, the lessons of 1987 and 1988 are once again proving their worth. I know, because I participated in the Pentagon basement war games that shaped Operation Praying Mantis in 1988, which became America’s largest Navy surface engagement since World War II.

In March 1987, as Iran attacked shipping in the Persian Gulf during the Tanker War, Kuwait sought U.S. protection for its oil tankers. President Ronald Reagan ordered them reflagged under Operation Earnest Will.

Before the first convoy sailed, two-week-long war games tested responses to Iranian provocations. I served on the Green team as a young Reagan appointee, modeling a robust, military-centric reaction. The Blue team pursued a restrained, “proportional response” approach favored by the foreign policy “Blob.”

The outcomes were clear: The Green team’s decisive posture resulted in roughly 50 American dead, wounded, or captured. The Blue team’s tentative path allowed Iran to control escalation, producing some 1,500 American casualties.

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Diplomats worked through back channels on Tuesday to arrange a new round of peace talks between the United States and Iran after Washington enacted its blockade of Iranian ports, while Tehran threatened to strike targets across the war-weary region.

US President Donald Trump said a second round of talks could happen “over the next two days,” telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Pakistan’s capital.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concurred, saying it’s “highly probable” that talks will restart. He cited a meeting he had with Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar.

“There is no military solution to this crisis. Peace agreements require persistent engagement and political will. Serious negotiations must resume,” he said.

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The strong warning reitrates that China has an energy agreement with Iran and therefore its ships will not be intercepted.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Defense Ministry said: “Chinese ships continue to move in and out of the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.

“We have trade and energy agreements with Iran, which we will respect and abide by.

“We expect others not to interfere in our affairs.

“Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and has opened it to us.”

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The United States military issued a warning Monday that it will be enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports on the Gulf of Oman — east of the Strait of Hormuz — as ceasefire negotiations with Iran broke down over the weekend, U.S. Central Command said in a notice to seafarers.

The notice said the blockade would begin at 10 a.m. eastern, following a proclamation from U.S. President Donald Trump. The Gulf of Oman is a strategic body of water in the Arabian Sea, which lies just east of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has been blocking to most international shipping traffic for weeks.

“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” the U.S. military notice said.

Oil Tankers Rush to The US For American Oil As Negotiations Fail to Open the Strait of Hormuz townhall.com
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As the remnants of the Iranian regime continue to block the Strait of Hormuz, countries around the world are reportedly turning to the United States for oil, as tankers flood the Gulf of America to purchase American oil.

Blurb:

Oil prices may soon be coming down after this move by U.S. Forces.

U.S. CENTCOM on Saturday announced the USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy will patrol the Strait of Hormuz to clear it from mines that were placed by the Iranian regime.

The move by U.S. CENTCOM come as JD Vance and top Iranian officials are in Pakistan discussing a peace agreement that would bring an end to U.S. military operations in Iran.

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called for China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important trade routes for crude oil in the world.

“I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil,” Rubio said in an interview on Fox News. China is Iran’s most important oil customer and maintains friendly relations with the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s foreign minister warned earlier Sunday that the Islamic Republic “reserves all options to defend its sovereignty,” after the U.S. bombed three key nuclear sites over the weekend.

Iranian state-owned media, meanwhile, reported that Iran’s parliament backed closing the Strait of Hormuz, citing a senior lawmaker. However, the final decision to close the strait lies with Iran’s national security council, according to the report.

An attempt to block the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman could have profound consequences for the global economy. Some 20 million barrels per day of crude oil, or 20% of global consumption, flowed through the strait in 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran against closing the Strait of Hormuz after the United States attacked three of the country’s nuclear facilities on Saturday.

Rubio claimed that while the U.S. would be affected, the impact would be greater on the rest of the world, most notably China.

“It would be a suicidal move on their part because the whole world would come against them if they did that,” Rubio said on CBS News’s Face the Nation.

In this image provided by the White House, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in foreground, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio sit in the Situation Room, Saturday, June 21, 2025, at the White House in Washington. (The White House via AP)

The strait, which is about 100 miles long and 21 miles wide, is shared between Iran and Oman and connects the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. It handles about a quarter of the world’s oil trade, and disruptions in the supply chain there would likely increase oil prices globally.

Rubio said a move to close the strait would escalate tensions and prompt a response from the U.S., saying such an action would be “the worst mistake they’ve ever made.”