{"id":66057,"date":"2026-04-14T00:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/66057\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:57:14","slug":"u-s-and-iran-begin-a-battle-of-economic-endurance-in-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/66057\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. and Iran begin a battle of economic endurance in the Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A vessel at the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Oman\u2019s Musandam province, on April 12.Stringer\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Amid a barrage of violent talk and ambiguous announcements, the Strait of Hormuz has now fallen under a complete blockade, with Iran and the United States facing off against each other in mirror-image military threats.<\/p>\n

After dawn broke Monday, a handful of vessels slipped through the narrow passage between Oman and Iran<\/a>: a Chinese freighter, a Vietnamese ship and two Iran-linked oil tankers. And then, as U.S. President Donald Trump issued threats on social media, the strait went dead.<\/p>\n

For the first time since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb. 28, neither Iran-linked ships nor vessels originating from Gulf Arab countries were approaching the strait from the Persian Gulf. In fact, according to Lloyds List Intelligence, two tankers made U-turns as the U.S. blockade came into effect. <\/p>\n

Analysis: U.S.-Iran negotiations in Islamabad fail to bring war to a decisive end<\/a><\/p>\n

Occurring in the wake of failed peace negotiations<\/a> between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad over the weekend, the standoff effectively pits Mr. Trump against Iran\u2019s regime in an economic endurance test. If it continues, it will have even more devastating effects on worldwide prices and supplies of oil, gas and fertilizer.<\/p>\n

That does not seem to have been Mr. Trump\u2019s intention \u2013 he appears to believe he can reopen the strait by adding another barrier to Iran\u2019s weeks-long blockade. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Britain and France jointly announced a \u201cpeaceful\u201d military mission Monday to actually reopen the strait \u2013 which could put them at odds with both Tehran and Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the coming days, together with the United Kingdom, we will organize a conference with those countries prepared to contribute alongside us to a peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait,\u201d French president Emmanuel Macron declared in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict, is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit.\u201d <\/p>\n

The U.S. military\u2019s Central Command declared Monday that the blockade would only apply to \u201cvessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports\u201d \u2212 that non-Iranian tankers could theoretically now travel through the strait. \u201cCentcom forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military began a blockade of ships leaving Iran’s ports on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said, and Tehran threatened to retaliate against its Gulf neighbours’ ports after weekend talks in Islamabad on ending the war broke down.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

In theory, that should have meant that the constant, high-volume traffic of Iranian oil that had been leaving the Gulf for the past six weeks would be replaced by a similar number of tankers carrying oil from Gulf Arab states.<\/p>\n

But the actual effect has been to make it too dangerous for tankers of any nationality to approach the strait. That\u2019s because Iran may still be demanding tolls from ships in exchange for a safe crossing, and the U.S. Central Command announced it would seize any vessel that had paid the toll, putting tanker owners in a difficult position. <\/p>\n

Insurers now face \u201ca scenario where vessels compliant with Iranian demands may be seized by American forces, and vessels attempting to comply with American demands may be targeted by Iran,\u201d Insurance Business magazine reported<\/a> Monday. \u201cThe two sets of obligations are, for some vessels already in the strait, potentially irreconcilable.\u201d<\/p>\n

At root is Mr. Trump\u2019s decision, made shortly after the peace talks failed, not to use his military to open the strait but instead to impose his own blockade against Iranian vessels.<\/p>\n

Iran fired back with its own renewed threats targeting Mr. Trump\u2019s action and, in theory, any vessels that heeded it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe restrictions imposed by criminal America on maritime navigation and transit in international waters are illegal and constitute an example of piracy,\u201d declared a statement issued by the Iranian military\u2019s central command centre and read live on state television.<\/p>\n

Opinion: It\u2019s time to return to the art of diplomacy<\/a><\/p>\n

The shipping industry also strongly condemned Mr. Trump\u2019s blockade. <\/p>\n

Arsenio Dominguez, head of the International Maritime Organization, declared that Mr. Trump had no right to impose a blockade on the strait \u2013 just as Iran had no authority to do so. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a legal perspective, in accordance with international law, there is no right to prohibit the right of innocent passage, nor to impede the freedom of navigation through international straits used for international transit,\u201d Mr. Dominguez said.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia took a different approach. Its Ministry of Energy declared Monday that it had successfully repaired and reopened the East-West Pipeline, a major artery that carries crude oil westward to the Red Sea. <\/p>\n

The pipeline had been attacked in a major series of Iranian drone strikes last Wednesday, hours after the U.S.-Iranian ceasefire had been declared. The ministry claimed that the repair \u201chighlights the operational resilience of the Kingdom\u2019s energy sector, reinforcing the reliability of energy supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this alternative route has also become fraught: In recent days, Red Sea oil shipments have been harassed by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A vessel at the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Oman\u2019s Musandam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[950,936,951,158,928,952,949,927,942,943,939,929,926,147,948,703,941,934,963,930,931,394,937,938,674,953,345,958,959,961,956,960,954,957,39,932,945,946,81,944,955,935,947,462,940,933,82,962],"class_list":{"0":"post-66057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-persian-gulf","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}