From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 23, 2026
IRGC says it stopped ships from sailing through Hormuz
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleIran’s Revolutionary Guards says Thursday they stopped three oil tankers from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, as the United States and Iran vie for control over the route through which around one fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war.
“The Strait of Hormuz is under our control… and any ship that is deceived by the US and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate,” the IRGC says in a statement.
The statement comes after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels reported hitting tankers in the Red Sea, after threatening to target Saudi ships transiting the similarly important Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Two Chinese very large crude carriers carrying a combined 4 million barrels of Saudi Arabian oil are heading toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Thursday, shipping data shows.
Millions of barrels per day of Saudi oil have been heading to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. If shipments cannot pass through the Red Sea’s southern strait, they have only the northern route through the Suez Canal, adding weeks and costs to the journey.
The Houthi threat to impose a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia could significantly widen the war and strain the US military, current and former US officials say.
The Times of Israel Community.