Iran is preparing legislation that would impose tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state-aligned media.
Traffic in the waterway, a critical shipping route, has effectively come to a standstill since the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran began almost four weeks ago. Subsequent supply constraints, along with attacks on energy facilities and regional production shutdowns, have pushed oil prices into triple digits.
Revolutionary Guard-aligned news agency Fars said overnight that a lawmaker had told its reporter the plans to impose tolls were also a bid to officialize Iranian supervision over the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. is in the wrong for starting the war, but Iran placing a toll on 30 percent of the world’s oil will only further convince other countries to side against it.
I’m one of the rest of the world and I say, fuck that opinion. Iran, please make it 50% just because.
OK but maybe this will push to more green energy since solar is already so much cheaper than oil.
So what? With the US already attacking them anyway, they have nothing to lose.
They have everything to lose if other countries provide support to the U.S. Iran is already infringing upon Oman’s sovereignty by stopping ships from transiting the straight through its territorial waters. Not allowing neutral third parties to use the straight bribe-free incentives otherwise neutral countries to side against it.
That’s like being in a bar fight with an MMA fighter and being worried that their 90 lb weakling friend might join in.
Edit: to be clear, though, the main intent of my previous comment wasn’t about the US’ military might. I was really just trying to allude to why, from a realpolitik perspective, it was fucking stupid of the US to attack in the first place.
The US is “just” bombing Iran right now. Take for example Pakistan. They launched missiles against each other two years ago. It would be relatively easy for Pakistan to invade Iran and get support from the US and the Gulf states for that. Iran controls some islands in the Strait of Hormuz, which the UAE claims to be theirs. The Azerbijan and Iran also are not exactly friends.
A ground invasion could seriously dethrone the Islamic leadership.
How do think a ground invasion of Iran, the famously impossible to invade area for literally thousands of years, would go? Do you think that it would be like Iraq where the USA blitzkrieged with tanks through to the capital? Not likely. The entire region is mountains. Rock slides would be a disaster in waiting (and able to be triggered via artillery or drones) at every turn.
And do… what, exactly? Europeans don’t want to touch this mess with a 10ft pole (they might, but it won’t be because of this), the Gulf is already on America’s side, Russia only stands to gain from this, China is already getting free passage and neutral countries for the most part have no way of pressuring Iran here. That’s the thing about being a pariah state: They already have nothing to lose.
oil is a shit commodity. fossil fuel oligarchs have stifled alternatives to keep reaping subsidies, and this global fuel panic is just the shit pigeon come home to roost and shitting on billions of innocent bystanders the whole way.