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🇰🇷 South Korea /Economy & Trade

‘Squeeze the economy’ or ‘break out through escalation’: The Strait of Hormuz reaches a turning point

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Ongoing story
  • The United States says its economic blockade is weakening Iran, while Tehran has expanded control zones around the Strait of Hormuz and attacked U.S. naval vessels.
  • The dispute has not fully closed or reopened the waterway, and the outcome may shape allied deployments and ceasefire negotiations.
  • China’s response to U.S. sanctions is expected to influence whether the blockade achieves its stated aims.

The confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz is approaching a turning point as the United States presses an economic blockade against Iran and Tehran raises the military stakes around the waterway.

Iran is still causing problems, but the U.S. Navy is winning that fight.

· Chris WrightThe U.S. energy secretary described Washington’s position in the Strait of Hormuz during an interview with CNN.

The Trump administration declared an “economic D-Day” against Iran on the 23rd of last month and began what it called an operation to completely isolate and economically expel the country. Washington says the blockade is taking effect and is pressing allies, including South Korea, to participate. Iran, meanwhile, has announced plans to expand its control zones around the strait and has attacked a U.S. aircraft carrier.

U.S. officials and major news organizations have argued that Iran is losing leverage because the global economy has adapted to the disruption caused by the strait’s restrictions, while Iran faces mounting pressure from its inability to export oil. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said more than 9 million barrels a day were currently passing through the strait and that alternative routes were carrying more than two-thirds of prewar volumes. “Iran is still causing problems, but the U.S. Navy is winning that fight,” he told CNN.

We are selling 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day, as if Iran’s oil production and trade were continuing normally.

· Mohsen RezaeiIran’s national security chief described the country’s oil sales on state television.

Other assessments are less sweeping. Tanker trackers said an average of 6.7 million barrels a day passed through the strait over the seven days to the 3rd, a 60% to 70% decline from before the war. Iran’s tankers have not crossed the strait since the U.S. military resumed a full blockade of Iranian ports on July 14, but Iranian oil may still be moving through unofficial “shadow vessels” and overland routes. Iran’s national security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, claimed that the country was selling 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day.

The strait is neither completely closed nor completely open.

· Eugene GholzThe University of Notre Dame professor assessed the unresolved confrontation over the waterway.

“Neither side has been able to completely close or completely open the Strait of Hormuz,” said Eugene Gholz of the University of Notre Dame. Iran has fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. naval vessels, while Rezaei said Tehran would formally announce an expanded control zone within days. U.S.-Iranian contacts and the expected meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could prove decisive, since China’s cooperation is central to the blockade’s effectiveness.

Iran cannot completely block the strait, and the United States cannot completely open it.

· Eugene GholzHe described the limits facing both sides in the Strait of Hormuz dispute.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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