US strikes oil tanker with missiles as it enforces new Iran blockade

Belma, a vessel previously sanctioned by the United States for its ties to Iran, entered the Gulf on Tuesday after transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to MarineTraffic ship‑tracking data. The tanker reported no cargo aboard and, on Thursday, broadcast its position roughly 100 kilometres (63 miles) southeast of Kharg Island. A second crude‑oil tanker also under U.S. sanctions for alleged Iranian links reversed course on Thursday, heading back into Iranian waters in the Gulf of Oman, vessel‑tracking information shows. It remains uncertain whether the Fuyao—listed by MarineTraffic as bound for Pakistan with an oil cargo—altered its route in response to the U.S. enforcement of the blockade. As part of the cease‑fire arrangement, Washington eased longstanding sanctions by issuing a temporary licence permitting the sale of Iranian oil and the transfer of proceeds to Tehran in U.S. dollars. In the weeks that followed, Iran sold oil at prices about 20 % higher than before the conflict, according to its chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Analysts from the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and shipping specialists TankerTrackers.com estimate that, between the termination of the blockade and its reinstatement, Iran exported at least 74 million barrels of crude. UANI asserts that this volume is worth more than $6 billion (approximately £4.4 billion). The United States curtailed the licence last week after Iran conducted a series of attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.