The naval forces of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday have begun blocking ships travelling near the Hormuz Strait amid Tehran's tensions with the US and Israel.
According to an official from the European Union's naval force (EUNAVFOR) Aspides, a number of vessels in the Middle East had been receiving Very High Frequency (VHF) transmissions from the IRGC, which said: "No ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz."
However, Iran has not formally confirmed such an order, nor has it said that the Hormuz Strait will be closed—something Tehran has often used as a point of leverage to dissuade countries from attacking it, a Reuters report said.
Impact on oil prices
The strait is a crucial passageway for energy cargo, especially a quarter of the world's crude oil, connecting oil producers in the Gulf—such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates—with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
Brokers have told the FT that war risk insurers have submitted cancellation notices for policies covering ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil chokepoint, with prices set to rise as much as 50% in the coming days https://t.co/GPTUFWCZhC pic.twitter.com/1EsEp5Tax0
— Financial Times (@FT) February 28, 2026
If Iran were to deny access to oil tankers from the Middle East to China, Europe, the US and other major energy consumers, the disruption would trigger a major spike in oil prices, potentially destabilising the global economy.
In fact, if the war is to take place over a prolonged period of time, the upward trend in the price of oil is likely to follow suit when trading opens on Monday, with prices already predicted to shoot up to $70-$80 per barrel.
Houthis return to maritime violence
This also comes as Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthis decided to resume missile and drone attacks on shipping routes—as well as on Israel—in response to the coordinate joint airstrikes from the US and Israel.
One of the officials had earlier told The Times of Israel that the rebels’ first attack could even take place as soon as “tonight".
The Houthis had stopped their attacks on the Bab El Mandeb Strait—the southern entrance to the Red Sea— as part of a deal with the Donald Trump administration, in exchange for a halt on US strikes against them. They had also stopped their attacks against Israel after the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan came into force last year.