Iran is squeezing the Strait of Hormuz so hard that tanker traffic has nearly vanished, sending the message that if you hit the country that directly controls more of the oil market than any other, global prices get hit next.
Since Israel and America started their war against Iran on February 28, traffic through Hormuz has fallen by 97%, according to United Nations data.
As Cryptopolitan has been saying from the beginning, about a fifth of the entire world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally moves through that route, and Iran sits on its northern coast.
To be fair, for years, we’ve heard Iran say that if it got dragged into a bigger fight with the U.S., it would immediately go after tanker flows in the Strait. These guys have historically loved fulfilling their promises. Well, the bad ones anyway.
Still, this threat mattered because the Strait of Hormuz is where rivals are badly exposed. Around 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through it.
Iran, which sits on the northern coast, has now effectively shut that lane down. Tehran has taken the Gulf’s biggest economic asset and turned it into its hardest pressure tool.
Iran spreads missile and drone attacks across the Gulf
This is not the first time Iran has used shipping pressure in the Gulf. Recall the chilling days of the 1980 to 1988 Iran-Iraq war, when the infamous ‘Tanker War’ turned the area into literally the most dangerous waterway on earth… at least for a little while.
Ships were attacked, commercial traffic came under threat, and Washington ended up escorting tankers through the Strait.
That old playbook is back, but this version is nastier because Iran now has more reach and cheaper weapons.
This month, Iran showed it can choke traffic quickly without leaning heavily on sea mines. It now has large stockpiles of low-cost missiles and drones that can threaten shipping over a much wider area. Instead of piling forces into one front, Tehran has spread attacks across the Gulf with repeated drone and missile strikes.
These are the kinds of attacks once pushed through Iran-backed groups in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. This time, Iran is running the campaign itself.
That approach comes out of a long-built IRGC doctrine. The idea is simple. If a stronger enemy goes to war, it will likely try to kill the leadership and break the command structure right away. So the answer is to spread the fight, keep striking, and make the cost rise outside the battlefield too.
After years of shadow conflict with the United States, the Guards are now using those lessons directly instead of relying mostly on regional proxies that once served as Iran’s forward defense line.
The goal is to create economic pain inside the United States and abroad and make Donald Trump face rising pressure to stop the war. U.S. strikes did not hit Kharg Island’s oil infrastructure, and that matters because Kharg is central to Iranian oil exports.
A senior provincial governor, quoted by IRNA, allegedly said exports from Kharg Island were continuing normally despite the American attack.
But Trump also drew a line. He wrote, “should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
Just yesterday, Mr. Trump told reporters that the U.S. Navy will “soon” begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which he is once again going to find out is easier said than done, much like the rest of this unnecessary war.
On the Iranian side, pressure is not easing. A defense ministry spokesperson, quoted in state media, said Iran would increase the use of upgraded weapons, especially ballistic missiles and other missiles with greater destructive power.
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, who replaced his slain father, has said the strategic waterway should stay closed as a pressure tool.
Late Friday, before boarding Air Force One for Florida, Trump said the military campaign would last “as long as necessary.” Asked how long the war would go on, he said, “I can’t tell you that. I mean, I have my own idea.” He added, “I won’t give you a time but we are way ahead of schedule.”
When reporters asked what he meant by “unconditional surrender,” Trump answered, “To me it means very simply that we are in a position of dominance that nobody has seen before, whether or not they’re able to say the words … .”
In an early Saturday post on Truth Social, Trump said:-
“The Fake News Media hates to report how well the United States Military has done against Iran, which is totally defeated and wants a deal – But not a deal that I would accept!”
