Iran’s goal is to maintain chokehold on the global economy, even as some say it could run out of oil storage by Sunday

Donald Trump’s indefinite shelving of the plan to bomb Iran’s bridges and power stations on Tuesday night is being widely described as leaving the conflict in limbo, but that is anything but the truth.

Pakistan insists the prospect of talks in Islamabad has not evaporated, and positive messages are still being exchanged, but in the meantime the site of kinetic activity has switched from land to sea.

Both sides are vying to prove they can enforce their blockade of the strait of Hormuz more effectively than the other. It has become a form of gunboat diplomacy brought to life in the most significant geopolitical waterway in the world.

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    6·
    11 days ago

    The cargo tracking firm Vortexa has reported that at least 34 tankers linked to Iran have circumvented the US blockade since it began, with 19 exiting the Gulf and 15 entering from the Arabian Sea.

    I don’t understand why this is happening. Is the US Navy somehow trying and failing to intercept these ships? (That would surprise me.) Or are they being allowed to pass deliberately?