Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz stalled further despite a ceasefire in the Iran war, underscoring an emboldened Tehran’s growing control over the critical waterway.
Iranian authorities paused traffic through the strait over Israeli strikes on Lebanon, demanding vessels coordinate with Iran’s forces and pay a fee to traverse the route, through which a huge proportion of critical energy supplies and commodities are shipped.
Iran has, meanwhile, managed to sharply increase its own oil sales while restricting those of Arab Gulf states. “Tehran has learned that by closing the strait,” Semafor’s climate and energy editor wrote, “it can fairly easily exact massive pain on the US and the global economy in a way that actually benefits its own coffers.”