US military briefs shipping partners on Strait of Hormuz transit
Centcom says the briefing to international shipping partners took place on Thursday, as transit through the strait stays near a standstill
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Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
The US military briefed international shipping partners on the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, according to Centcom.
A US oil trader has placed a $2 billion bet on tankers as that disruption continues, according to the same reporting. Tanker traffic has been near a standstill for weeks, with no reopening deal in sight.
Iran says the strait will not reopen under pressure, and Tehran has said it will soon block what it calls illegal routes through the waterway, while also saying it can raise its weapons range. An adviser to the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said illegal routes in the strait will be targeted.
The briefing points to the US treating passage through Hormuz as an active operational problem that still needs coordination with shippers, not as a settled or reopened channel. It follows repeated projectile strikes on outbound tankers even after the US Navy earlier announced the strait had reopened without conditions. Keeping international shippers aligned on safe routing suggests continued caution in actual transit rather than a return to normal flow, which keeps the risk premium embedded in crude oil rather than removing it.