😎 glorious 🏆
🚨 The Islamic Republic tried to weaponize the Strait of Hormuz and ended up locking its own oil inside.
@TankerTrackers August data shows just how badly the gamble has backfired.
Iran’s exports were down 100%, compared with Iraq and Kuwait at −36%, Saudi Arabia and Qatar at −48%, while the UAE was essentially flat.
Before the war, Iran was shipping roughly 1.5–2.2 million barrels per day. In August, loadings collapsed to just 220,000–255,000 bpd, and since the U.S. blockade was reinstated on July 14, no Iranian crude cargo has successfully crossed Hormuz to China.
Iran is still loading oil, but much of it is going nowhere. TankerTrackers counted 29 tankers carrying 36.11 million barrels inside the strait, while Iranian floating storage west of the blockade line climbed to 41.7 million barrels.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic’s neighbors are still moving millions of barrels. The UAE can pump oil directly to Fujairah outside Hormuz, while other Gulf producers continue exporting despite suffering significant disruption.
The market is finding ways around the Islamic Republic while the Islamic Republic increasingly cannot find a way around the blockade.
That is catastrophic for a government dependent on oil for hard currency. China can continue buying Iranian crude already floating in Asia, but if fresh barrels cannot escape from Iran, that inventory eventually runs down and the cash flow dries up.
Years of sanctions never completely stopped Iranian oil because the Islamic Republic could evade them through discounts, shadow tankers, ship-to-ship transfers, front companies and Chinese buyers.
The blockade is doing something sanctions never fully accomplished by physically separating the Islamic Republic from its biggest oil customer.
Iran tried to turn Hormuz into economic leverage against everyone else. Instead, its neighbors are bruised but still exporting millions of barrels while the Islamic Republic has turned its own coastline into an oil parking lot.
https://fixupx.com/theiranwatcher/status/2094837337565905158?s=67
FixupX
The Iran Watcher (@TheIranWatcher)
🚨 The Islamic Republic tried to weaponize the Strait of Hormuz and ended up locking its own oil inside.
@TankerTrackers August data shows just how badly the gamble has backfired.
Iran’s exports were down 100%, compared with Iraq and Kuwait at −36%, Saudi…
2September 3, 2026 18
