The U.S. is the soul of Iran's maritime trade, but has not closed the Strait of Ormuz

The American blockade of Iranian ports is beginning to bring first results. Some ships returned, traffic through the Ormuz Strait clearly slowed down, but the trail was not completely closed. Washington hits primarily Iran's maritime trade.

In this text, we continue to discuss the situation in the Ormuz Strait area and the American blockade of ship traffic to and from Iranian ports. We wrote about the Rich Starry oil tanker case earlier. on our portal.

U.S. pressure on Iran grows, but the Strait of Ormuz has not been completely closed

The blockage works, but not in the sense that the first, loud headlines of the dawn media suggested. The Americans have not shut down the entire Ormuz Strait for all shipping. Gen. Dan Caine specifically said the operation concerns Iranian ports and coasts, not the Strait itself as such. This is important, because this is the difference between the current pressure mechanism: Washington does not cut off traffic across the water, but tries to suppress Iran's maritime trade and deter shipowners from entering and exiting Iranian ports.

Does this pressure work? For today you can say yes — At least in part. CENTCOM stated that 14 units were returned from Iranian ports within 72 hours of the start of the blockade. Over 10,000 soldiers and several ships and aircraft were involved in the operation. This shows that we are not dealing with a political demonstration itself, but with a real and costly tool of pressure on Tehran.

Some ships continue but the risk price rises

At the same time, the blockade did not stop the whole movement. Reuters reported on April 17 that Pakistani tanker Shalamar came out of the Gulf through the Ormuz Strait with approximately 440 thousand barrels of Das Blend oil from the UAE and peeled course Karachi. This was an important signal: the transition for non-Iranian cargo is still possible, although it is already taking place under much greater uncertainty and under strict control of both sides of this crisis. In this sense, the publicist entries on X about the fact that the Ormuz Strait "runs two authorities today" are effective, but the source can only be protected by its core: the movement has not stopped, but has become politically charged and much harder for shipowners.

However, the distortion scale is already higher than would have been due to the number of 14 ships returned. Reuters had earlier written that after the truce was announced, traffic by the Strait remained close to freezing: from 8 to 10 April by the Strait, only 15 ships had passed to an earlier average of 138. On 17 April, the agency reported that about 20,000 sailors remained trapped in the region as a result of the crisis around this trail. This is no longer just a signal game between Washington and Tehran, but a real paralysis of parts of shipping and an increasing weight for the market.

In short, the blockade does not closed the strait, although no doubt the pressure on Iranian maritime trade has increased markedly. Tehran has not lost access to the sea, but shipping in the region has become much harder and more risky. That is why the question of whether Washington has not achieved an indirect effect is increasingly coming back: without full blockade of the Strait it is effectively limiting the possibility of maritime trade in Iran. In practice, this may prove to be more severe for Tehran than a spectacular but short-lived demonstration of force.