Washington, May 4:
The US blockade in the Gulf of Oman and surrounding maritime routes has been claimed to have cost Iran nearly USD 4.8 billion in oil revenue, significantly tightening financial pressure on Tehran, according to a report by Axios citing Pentagon estimates.
The Department of War assessment suggests Iran has been denied close to USD 5 billion in oil earnings due to disruptions linked to US enforcement operations in the region, which officials say are targeting sanctioned maritime trade and energy exports.
The report comes amid ongoing tensions over shipping routes near the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil checkpoint.
Highlighting the report, Sean Parnell, speaking in his capacity as Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman, quoted Acting Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez, who said the US operation is intended to maintain sustained economic pressure on Tehran.
In a post on X, Parnell cited Valdez, who said, “The United States’ blockade in the Strait of Hormuz is operating with full force and delivering the decisive impact we intended.” Valdez added, “We are inflicting a devastating blow to the Iranian regime’s ability to fund terrorism and regional destabilization. Our Armed Forces in the region will continue to maintain this unrelenting pressure.”
Meanwhile, calling Iranian leadership “rats in a sewer pipe”, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday (local time) said those governing in Tehran are unaware about the ground realities adding that international community has turned up against them.
Asserting that US has complete control over Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most crucial oil chokepoint, he said that a blockade will continue till a ‘Freedom of Navigation’ is achieved which was prior to February 27.
“It is very difficult for rats in a sewer pipe to know what’s going on in the outside world. Some color for the Iranian Leadership as they literally sit in the dark: 1. The United States has complete control of the Strait of Hormuz. 2. There is a hard currency, i.e. U.S. dollar, shortage. 3. Food and gasoline rationing are in place. 4. The entire international community has turned against you. 5. The BLOCKADE will continue, until there is pre-February 27 Freedom of Navigation,” Bessent wrote on X while reacting to a report which claims that US Navy’s blockade has put a dent on Tehran’s strategy in the region.
Responding to Bessent’s remark, Iranian Embassy in South Africa said, “Everyone knows that you and your pedophile boss lost the war, and those pathetic noises you make come from pain, not victory. You lost both on the battlefield and in cyberspace. Idiot.”
On April 13, the United States imposed a naval blockade on Iran following the failure of the Islamabad Talks to end the war.