US resumes Iran strikes as sanctions, blacklists squeeze Gulf oil export routes

In the first US strike on Iran in over a month, US forces targeted two IRGC rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM called yesterday’s action preemptive, saying the launchers were being readied to fire rockets carrying naval mines into the waterway — an “imminent threat” a week after it finished clearing the strait’s international lanes.

The IRGC said several were killed and wounded on the island and vowed “response and punishment,” which came at dawn today: Ballistic missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan, eight of which Amman says it intercepted, with no significant impact reported, though Tehran claims casualties. Iran’s regular army separately claimed a drone strike on Al Minhad air base in the UAE, which Abu Dhabi has not addressed.

Iran named Adnoc-linked vessels among 45 tankers it blacklisted for breaking its rules on crossing the Strait of Hormuz, warning it would act against any ship caught transferring cargo with them, Reuters reports. Named vessels risk fines, detention, and cargo confiscation, and any ship caught doing a ship-to-ship transfer with one can be added itself. Owners can petition for removal, though Iran hasn’t spelled out its compliance rules. Iranian MPs are drafting legislation to charge ships a security fee for Hormuz transits, revenue one lawmaker has pitched as rivaling oil income.

This targets the workaround, not just the traffic. Adnoc has built its export strategy around a shuttle model since the war disrupted normal Hormuz transits: Vessels move crude from inside the Gulf to transfer points like Fujairah, where buyers — including Chinese state operators Cosco and CMES, which have avoided the strait entirely — collect it without sending their own ships through the danger zone. That let Adnoc sell more than 100 mn barrels via tenders even as chokepoint traffic collapsed — and it is still running. Adnoc and Kuwait's KPC chartered four VLCCs on the spot market last week to load at Fujairah for Asia, Reuters reports, citing Kpler data and a shipbroker. Each carries about 2 mn barrels.

Washington was working the same lever from the other side. Operation Economic Outcast, unveiled last Monday, sanctions over 60 entities, individuals, and vessels across digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning Tehran’s trade partners to sever ties or face expulsion from the USD-based financial system. Every country has “a defined timeline to shut down activities we have identified,” he said — without publishing any of them — and he stopped short of designating the Chinese banks that clear payment for the bulk of Iran's crude. Tehran threatened deeper cuts to Gulf oil exports and has since promised a “strong response to the economic blockade.”

MEANWHILE- Saudi Arabia is exploring a state-backed war and political risk ins. pool to cover ships in the region, with early talks underway with London brokers, the Financial Times reports. It answers a market where insurers have raised prices, restricted coverage, and in some cases refused war cover for chokepoint transits — with underwriters now treating Saudi-linked ships like high-risk Israeli and US assets. The country’s Finance Ministry is weighing up to SAR 700 mn in commercial cover per insured event, with ins. and reins. firms writing the initial layer and the Saudi Export-Import Bank adding USD hundreds of mns in backstop capacity. Saudi Re and Riyadh Re would lead a reinsurer consortium in one version.

As Saudi pushes more exports through Yanbu with both main maritime routes disrupted, a state pool could keep shipowners moving without ins. costs becoming a deterrent. It would cover war, political violence, and terrorism together — a growing need as Houthi attacks blur the line, said Enmetena Advisory's Maximilian Hess.

The trigger: The Houthis put a missile into Bahri’s VLCC Amzan last Monday — 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu, per UKMTO. The militia declared a naval blockade on the Kingdom late last month, and Yanbu has effectively become the only working export corridor — 92% of June's seaborne crude exports and 78% of July's. Aramco is now rerouting barrels east through Sohar in Oman and shifting some Yanbu loadings west to Egypt's Sidi Kerir.

Speaking of drones: A Saudi security delegation met Iraqi officials in Baghdad last Thursday on border control and preventing drone attacks on Saudi targets launched from Iraq, per Ina. It’s the third round since 29 July US-Saudi strikes hit Iran-aligned groups following drone attacks on Saudi energy facilities Riyadh traced to Iraq.