Tehran, Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they would not allow “one litre of oil” to be shipped from the Middle East if U.S. and Israeli attacks continue, drawing a warning from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would respond with much heavier strikes if exports were blocked.
Threats over oil shipments and Hormuz
Trump warned that U.S. attacks could rise sharply if Iran sought to block tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. “We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” Trump said at a news conference on Monday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it would not allow any oil to leave the region if attacks from the United States and Israel continue. “We are the ones who will determine the end of the war,” a spokesperson said, describing Trump’s comments as “nonsense”, according to state media.
Market reaction and leadership signal
The heightened rhetoric did little to quell a sharp retreat in crude prices and a rally in global shares, which came after Trump expressed confidence in a swift end to hostilities even after Iran appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader in a signal of defiance.
U.S. and Israeli objectives
Trump said on Monday the United States had inflicted serious damage on Iran’s military and predicted the conflict would end well before the initial four-week time frame he had laid out, though he has not defined what victory would look like.
Israel said its war aim is to overthrow Iran’s system of clerical rule. U.S. officials mainly said Washington’s aim is to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and nuclear programme, but Trump said the war can end only with a compliant Iranian government.
Casualties and continued warnings
At least 1,332 Iranian civilians have been killed and thousands wounded since the U.S. and Israel launched a barrage of air and missile strikes across Iran at the end of February, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador.
In a later Truth Social post, Trump repeated his warning.
How could any disruption in Strait of Hormuz traffic affect your country’s fuel prices and energy supplies?