World
Iran’s New Oil Terminal Offers Exports Less Vulnerable to US Blockade
Jordan Batstone
Oil tankers are especially vulnerable when passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Image: Agilard/Shutterstock
On July 22, 2021, Iran announced that it had loaded the first shipment of oil from a new terminal just outside the city of Jask. Though the cargo was a modest 100 tonnes, the facility has a capacity of 350,000 barrels per day, expected to rise to a million per day in the future. What makes the new terminal so exciting from Iran’s point of view is that export tankers can now leave port directly into the Arabian Sea without passing through the infamously narrow Strait of Hormuz.
What makes the new terminal so exciting from Iran’s point of view is that export tankers can now leave port directly into the Arabian Sea without passing through the infamously narrow Strait of Hormuz.
Though a fifth of global oil is transported through that waterway, the construction of the Strait makes shipping relatively vulnerable to disruption, a particularly sensitive issue for Iran, whose exports are regularly threatened by US-led sanctions. Former US President Donald Trump re-imposed these when he unilaterally pulled the plug on the Iranian nuclear deal. Since early in the presidency of US President Joe Biden, international talks in Vienna have been attempting to find a framework for the reinstatement of the deal. Though talks splutter on, they have been frequently bogged down by technical issues, an Iranian election, and many political diversions.
Sanctions are the main US weapon with which to leverage Iran’s nuclear aspirations, and till now, that has been partially enforced by patrolling the Strait of Hormuz with US warships.
Meanwhile, according to Biden, the de-nuclearization of Iran remains “one of America’s most important and urgent concerns.” Sanctions are the main US weapon with which to leverage Iran’s nuclear aspirations, and till now, that has been partially enforced by patrolling the Strait of Hormuz with US warships. That starts to appear an outdated strategy if Iran can simply circumvent sending its oil exports through the Strait in the first place.
Iran’s outgoing president, Hassan Rouhani, described the maiden shipment as showing a “failure of US sanctions” on “a great historic day for the Iranian nation.” A historic day, to be sure. But with Iran’s enemies angered by the weakening of a coercive tool, its greatness remains to be seen.
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