The US Department of Defense yesterday said its forces boarded a vessel in the Indian Ocean that was transporting oil from Iran, as disruption from a standoff with the Islamic republic continued to batter the world economy.
The announcement came hours after a senior Iranian official said the country had banked the first proceeds from tolls it is exacting on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that has become the focal point of the confrontation with the US.
With planned peace talks hanging in the balance, more fuel-hungry airlines canceled flights, oil prices opened higher and the keenly watched S&P Global PMI index showed eurozone business activity shrinking for the first time in 16 months.
Photo: European Union / Copernicus Sentinel-2 via Reuters
Iran vowed it would keep the strait closed to all but a trickle of approved vessels for as long as the US blockaded its ports, brushing off demands from US President Donald Trump to reopen Hormuz and surrender its enriched uranium.
The US earlier this month responded by imposing its own blockade of Iranian ports, and yesterday the Pentagon announced on X that US forces had “carried out a maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T Majestic X transporting oil from Iran, in the Indian Ocean.”
The post included footage of US military personnel rappelling from helicopters onto the deck of a large tanker.
The US would “continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the statement said.
While strikes across the region have mostly ceased since the two-week-old truce began, there has been no letup in the confrontation over Hormuz, with both sides seeking economic leverage — only for Trump to announce an indefinite ceasefire to create space for more talks.
“A complete ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated through a naval blockade,” said Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran’s delegation at a first round of talks in Pakistan. “Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire.”
Ghalibaf’s deputy, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, said Iran received its first revenue from tolls it is imposing on ships seeking to cross Hormuz, a route that in peacetime accounts for one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas flows, and other vital commodities.
Analysts said Tehran, in particular its leaders associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, believes that Iran’s blockade gives it sufficient economic leverage to force Washington to back down on its main demands in peace talks.
Some, such as Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, criticized Israel and the US for misreading the Iranian government’s position.
“Tehran has consistently demonstrated a willingness to absorb economic pain while holding firm on what it views as core national interests. There is little reason to believe this time will be different,” he wrote on social media.
“Rather than moving toward concession, Iran is positioning itself to escalate,” he said.
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