The Pentagon estimates Iran has lost $4.8 billion in oil revenue due to the US Navy’s blockade of its ports, the Axios news site reports, citing unnamed Pentagon officials.
Two tanks have been seized amid the blockade. Additionally, 31 tankers carrying 53 million barrels of oil are now “stuck in the Gulf,” according to the officials.
Some ships are sailing “a costlier and longer route to deliver oil to China for fear of US maritime interdiction,” the officials tell Axios.
The US imposed its blockade on Iranian ports amid a temporary truce as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to permanently end the war that has raged between Israel, the US, and Iran.
Iran said last month that it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, but then reimposed it when the US refused to lift its blockade until a permanent agreement to end the war with the US was reached.
Agencies contributed to this report.
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