Trump has vowed to restore a “maximum pressure” campaign to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero.
Trump hit Iran with two waves of fresh sanctions in the first weeks of his second-term, targeting companies and the so-called shadow fleet of ageing oil tankers that sail without Western insurance and transport crude from sanctioned countries.
Those moves have largely been in line with the limited measures implemented during former President Joe Biden’s administration, during which Iran succeeded in ramping up oil exports through complex networks.
Trump officials are now looking at ways for allied countries to stop and inspect ships sailing through critical chokepoints such as the Malacca Strait in Asia and other sea lanes, according to six sources who asked not to be named due to the sensitive subject.
That would delay delivery of crude to refiners. It could also expose parties involved in facilitating the trade to reputational damage and sanctions, the sources said.
“You don’t have to sink ships or arrest people to have that chilling effect that this is just not worth the risk,” one of the sources stated, adding, “The delay in delivery … instills uncertainty in that illicit trade network.”
The administration was examining whether inspections at sea could be conducted under the auspices of the Proliferation Security Initiative launched in 2003, which aims to prevent the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction.
The US drove that initiative, which has been signed by over 100 governments.
This mechanism could enable foreign governments to target Iran’s oil shipments at Washington’s request, one of the sources said, effectively delaying deliveries and hitting supply chains Tehran relies upon for revenue.
The National Security Council, which formulates policy in the White House, was looking into possible inspections at sea, two of the sources added.
It was unclear if Washington had yet approached any signatories to the Proliferation Security Initiative to test their willingness to cooperate with the proposal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has recently told Iran’s parliament that Trump “has once again signed an order sanctioning many of our ships at sea, leaving them uncertain about how to unload their oil and gas cargo”. He was referring to Trump’s latest round of sanctions.
Tehran is not concerned that Trump may decide to toughen sanctions on the country’s oil exports, according to an Iranian minster. Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad has stated that Tehran has some valuable experiences in getting around Washington’s sanctions.
Paknejad has stressed that the United States will never achieve its dream of cutting Iran’s oil exports to zero as touted by Trump.
“Blocking Iran’s oil exports is an unattainable dream,” he added.
He insisted that Iran will always come up with solutions to circumvent US bans on its oil exports.
