Iran fast-tracks 11 million barrels of oil as Trump threatens blockade

Iran has rushed out five supertankers and one Suezmax vessel carrying roughly 11 million barrels of crude in the past 24 hours, as strikes between the US and Iran threaten to escalate into another blockade on its ports, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Four of the vessels leaving Iranian ports today signalled positions in the Gulf of Oman, and another was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to Bloomberg's tanker-tracking data. 

The vessels were dispatched immediately after a second day that US military strikes targeted civilian infrastructure like railway bridges, killing 14 people and injuring 78, leaving 47 in hospital, according to Iranian health ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour. 

The renewed strikes threaten to shatter the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, bringing maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a cautious standstill.

The strikes have stirred the energy market, sending oil prices up nearly nine percent this week to trade near $79 a barrel on Thursday.

Eleven million barrels are close to a week’s worth of Iran’s pre-war exports, though it’s unclear whether there are buyers for the shipments. 

Read more: Iran fast-tracks 11 million barrels of oil as Trump threatens blockade