A person sits on shallow water as cargo and commercial vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran. AP
Since the U.S. and Israel started the war with Feb. 28 attacks on Iran, the conflict has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices and made food and other basics more expensive.
The international benchmark for crude oil traded above $93 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 25% since the start of the war.
Trump said on Wednesday that ships were slipping through at night, aided by the destruction of Iranian radar equipment.
He said as a result more than 100 million barrels of oil have evaded Iran’s chokehold on the strait.
There was no immediate confirmation of that figure, which roughly equals five days of oil shipments through the waterway before the war began.
The military’s role was not immediately clear. The U.S. Central Command on Wednesday disputed Iran’s claims that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, saying commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out.
But the seas remain dangerous for mariners. Indian Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced on X that three Indians missing after the American attack on the Palau-flagged tanker Settebello had been killed. The U.S. military’s Central Command had accused the Settebello of having “violated the ongoing blockade by attempting to transport oil from Iran.” American forces fired into the ship’s engine room to stop it Wednesday.
The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, condemned the attack on the Settebello. Since the start of the Iran war, there have been 43 attacks on international shipping in the area, the IMO said.
Another tanker near where the Settebello had been struck off Oman experienced an engine room fire on Thursday morning as well, according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Operations center. It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the blaze, though initial suspicion fell on another U.S. attack.
Short link: