Oil declines after Trump pauses Hormuz operation

Brent crude’s price has come under downward pressure following US President Donald Trump’s announcement to pause Washington’s naval mission to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

IMAGE: Vessel cluster around the Strait of Hormuz. Windward

The mission – Project Freedom – will be paused “for a short period of time” while Washington assesses whether an agreement can be reached with Tehran to cease hostilities in the region, Trump said on social media platform Truth Social.

He also reiterated that the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will remain in place until an agreement is reached with Iran.

A Panama-flagged cargo ship operated by South Korean shipping firm HMM came under attack yesterday, causing a fire, Reuters reported.

Seoul is reviewing whether to join Washington in helping ships transit through the Strait of Hormuz following the incident, the report added.

There has been a surge in vessels switching off the Automatic Identification System (AIS) since Monday’s drone attack on the UAE’s Fujairah port – one of Asia’s largest bunkering hubs – maritime intelligence firm Windward reports.

“Kharg Island [in Iran] is operating under a near-total dark posture,” according to Windward. It added that Iranian oil shipments to Asia are beginning to reroute via Indonesia’s Lombok Strait, bypassing the more closely monitored Strait of Malacca.

Since Monday, close to 60 vessels have headed toward Dubai, where a large concentration of ships has formed, Bloomberg reported. At least 363 vessels are now gathered off Dubai based on tracking signals.

Dubai lies just beyond the expanded zone now under Iranian control.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a map outlining a broader zone around the key chokepoint that it says is now under its control, state media reported.

According to the IRGC, the area now stretches from Kuh-e Mobarak in Iran to waters south of Fujairah in the UAE, and from the tip of Iran’s Qeshm Island to Umm Al Quwain in the UAE.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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