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<\/p>\nIranian threats hobbled shipping through the Strait of Hormuz during the war, moving what little remained north into its own waters.<\/p>\n
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Before war Feb. 18\u201327<\/p>\n
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After Iranian retaliation April 3\u201312<\/p>\n
Now the U.S. has mounted a blockade of its own, redrawing the board once again.<\/p>\n
After the U.S. blockade<\/p>\n
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U.S. ships enforcing blockade in Gulf of Oman<\/p>\n
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U.S. ships enforcing blockade in Gulf of Oman<\/p>\n
The American blockade aims to upend a dynamic that had become the new normal in the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel launched the war in late February: Iran allowed ships carrying its own cargo to pass through the strait, even as it attacked commercial vessels and effectively halted shipping from almost everybody else.<\/p>\n
Though Iran was getting much-needed revenue from the Iranian-linked oil tankers it allowed to pass, the U.S. allowed them to keep transiting the strait<\/a>. The goal was to temper the sharp increases in oil prices tied to the war.<\/p>\n Most ships leaving the Persian Gulf came from Iranian ports <\/p>\n Where ships exiting the strait after the war began last loaded cargo, oil or gas<\/p>\n On Monday, the United States imposed its own naval blockade<\/a>, intent on ending Iran\u2019s dominance of the waterway and cutting off its oil income by blocking all traffic to and from its ports.<\/p>\n More than 12 American military vessels were stationed in international waters in the Gulf of Oman, beyond the strait, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. And the military is likely monitoring the region from a distance<\/a>, using radar, patrol aircraft and drones, said Jennifer Parker, a former naval officer now at the University of Western Australia\u2019s Defense and Security Institute.<\/p>\n Since the U.S. blockade took effect, no ships linked to Iran have been spotted leaving<\/a> the region, according to the vessel\u2011tracking company Kpler.<\/p>\n Some ships appeared to have slowed or stopped. And at least two that had links to Iran, and are the target of U.S. sanctions, appeared to have turned around back toward the Persian Gulf as of Wednesday. One of the ships that reversed course, the Rich Starry, a Chinese tanker, was spotted traveling eastward through the strait on Tuesday toward open water before making a U-turn.<\/p>\n \u200b\u200b<\/p>\n \u200b\u200bSome ships without links to Iran did move through the strait<\/a> on Monday and Tuesday, according to U.S. Central Command and companies like Kpler. The vessels stayed close to the Omani coast, keeping a distance from possible sea mines in the middle of the waterway.<\/p>\n