It Appears Ships are Sailing, Once Again, Through the Strait of Hormuz
As Washington underwrites safe passage and “privateer” tankers steam through silently with transponders off, the ayatollahs are reduced to offering bribery coupons for “safe passage” to any government willing to dump U.S. and Israeli diplomats, advertising weakness to friend and foe alike.
My colleague Mary Chastain noted in her recent report that President Donald Trump’s team was weighing a takeover of the critical shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a vast amount of global oil supply flows.
This development follows on the heels of continuing military targeting covered by our talented Vijeta Uniyal.
I would like to focus on the Strait for a moment, as I noted in an earlier report that Trump ordered a US agency to provide insurance for companies willing to sail through the region. That plan is moving forward.
The U.S. will provide reinsurance for losses up to $20 billion in the Gulf region, to help provide confidence for oil and gas shippers during the war on Iran, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation said on Friday.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the DFC to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees for maritime trade in the Gulf after oil and liquefied natural gas tanker transit had ground to a halt in the Strait of Hormuz waterway off Iran, where ordinarily 20% of global oil moves daily.
Meanwhile, one Greek shipping tycoon is having his ships turn off their transponders and sail on through despite Iranian threats.
At least five ships owned by George Prokopiou’s company Dynacom Tankers have travelled through the 30-mile wide narrows at the mouth of the Gulf since the war began, according to maritime analytics specialist Kpler.
Crews have allegedly been ordered to turn off the transponders on the vessels before entering the strait in order to make them harder to hit.
Ship-tracking websites showed them disappearing from view as they approached the waterway before reappearing on the other side after their transponders were reactivated.
…The high-risk strategy has not been limited to loaded tankers carrying oil from the Gulf – even empty ships have passed through from the east.
One such tanker, the 72,000-metric ton Athina, appears to have crossed through the strait unladen on Saturday night, loaded up in Bahrain and departed two days later.
Ships are reportedly crossing the strait of Hormuz. They are reportedly turning off their transponders before passing through, and switch them back on afterward.
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 9, 2026
Shipping experts note that this move is high-stakes for those involved.
Industry brokers told the Financial Times that Prokopiou’s decision represents a rare and risky strategy at a time when many shipowners are suspending operations.
“Most shipowners have frozen transits until the situation calms down,” one broker said. “But there are a few ‘privateers’ willing to take the risk.”
The heightened tensions in the region — a critical route for global oil supplies — have made the Strait of Hormuz one of the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world.
Despite the risks, the potential financial gains are enormous. According to energy intelligence firm Argus Media, freight rates for oil tankers have surged dramatically.
This Greek, this MAN, this tough guy and his crew saved the markets and your portfolios.
GEORGE PROKOPIOU.
They had the balls to go through the Strait of Hormuz when others weren’t.
Fuck the missiles. Save the world.
Where are the panicans again?
Always BTFD! https://t.co/2F9eKeqjqH pic.twitter.com/rGQ08VrNm4— Peter B (@realpeteyb123) March 9, 2026
How is Iran’s regime handling these developments? By trying to bribe other countries into distancing themselves from the U.S. and Israel.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued a message suggesting that countries distancing themselves diplomatically from Israel and the United States could be granted unrestricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important oil shipping routes.
According to Iranian state media, the IRGC said that any Arab or European nation that expels the ambassadors of Israel and the United States from its territory would, starting the following day, be given “full authority and freedom” to transit the strait.
The statement appears to be part of Tehran’s broader effort to pressure governments to take a political stance against Washington and Israel amid the escalating conflict that has drawn the region into a wider confrontation.
BREAKING: Iran's IRGC stated that any Arab or European nation that expels the ambassadors of Israel and the United States from its territory will, beginning tomorrow, be granted full authority and freedom to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) March 9, 2026
Iran’s mullahs thought they could weaponize the Strait of Hormuz; instead, Trump turned their maritime choke point into a pressure point on their crumbling regime and its enablers.
As Washington underwrites safe passage and “privateer” tankers steam through silently with transponders off, the ayatollahs are reduced to offering bribery coupons for “safe passage” to any government willing to dump U.S. and Israeli diplomats, advertising weakness to friend and foe alike.
When a terror-sponsoring theocracy is begging for boycotts of America in exchange for not shooting at tankers, it’s not projecting strength—it’s signaling that the real blockade is closing in on Tehran, not on the Strait.
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The IRGC knows that any shots taken at ships will instantly reveal the firing site, which will summarily be dispatched to Allah with extreme prejudice.
Disappointed Dems could not be reached for comment. For once.
BREAKING: Due to the sharp increase in deaths via clerical Iran, Paradise is limiting its 52 virgins rewards program to a slightly soiled young male goat, a stick and a clean towel (pbuh).
This guy right here did what Trump said to do a while back…show some balls. Good for him.
We still killed children for Israel, who really cares?
Shut your filthy nazi mouth.
(a) we didn’t kill children.
(b) we didn’t do anything for Israel.
(c) but if you like we can start with you.
well said!
We did nothing of the sort, Cigarette, and most of us DO care.
Didn’t we drop a JDAM on you?
Likmour opens her mouth again, and as always what comes out stinks
You’re retarded
Liar in service to America’s enemies
Proven to be a lie, not that you care.
You support the murder of children in the womb, maybe sit the rest of you life out.
Since you care about body count and dead children so much, how many children died in Syria by Bashir Assad’s regime, which was financially backed and supported by Iran? How many were gassed and tortured? How many children died at the hands of Hezbollah also controlled by Iran? How many children have been murdered by Hams another Iranian proxy? How many in Yemen? All Jewish hating fools always boil down their non existent arguments to: But But But dead children! Of course showing no concern for children who have died at the hands of Muslims.
US needs to start boarding and siezing Iranian commercial vessels. Iran needs oil more than the world need those crazy ass mullahs
The US Sank a few of them recently
Greeks were big winners in WW2?! Or even small winners?! They suffered 3.5 to 4 years of brutal occupation and subjugation, the Germans murdered hundreds of thousands and looted the economy, there was famine, and after the Germans were driven out there followed years of civil war as the communists tried to take control for their master Stalin. That doesn’t look like winning to me.
Norwegian-born shipping-magnate billionaire John Fredriksen moves business to the UAE 2025. He owns more oil tankers than any other human being. I bet he orders his fleet to steam thru the strait.
PS: Ever wonder what a angry Viking looked like 1200 years ago?
https://www.shippingherald.com/john-fredriksen-becomes-largest-euronav-shareholder/
You speak truth. That image is glorious.
If somewhat tonsorially deficient.
I need the Internet to bless me with a meme of Trump serving people at McDonalds featuring an image of the Strait of Hormuz.
In February 2026, the European Union imported 1.54 million tonnes of LNG from Russia’s Yamal LNG facility, delivered across 21 cargoes – marking the first time since April 2018 that every shipment was destined for European ports. This follows an already high January purchase, when EU buyers took 93 percent of Yamal’s production.
https://gcaptain.com/eu-buys-100-of-russian-arctic-lng-just-9-months-before-planned-gas-ban/
lefty will be more butt hurt if gas isnt at 9/gallon
maga
I wonder if the Spanish prime minister will take Iran up on their offer of safe passage and expel our ambassador. Seems like he’d be the type.
If we’re lucky France and UK will expel our ambassador and we can be done with those ungrateful snobs (and withdraw from Nato).
agree
we pretend they are on our side in hopes that they will be
unchain ourselves from them and they will become more likely to need us //beg us to be their friends
Indeed. The Eurosnobs will squeal at their first opportunity if things don’t go their way. It should be fun to hear them.
.
However while I understand the reason I don’t like our involvement with Hormuz? Why? Because once again we are saving Europe’s bacon and this time China’s as well. Let then bear the cost for once.
as long as we sell them the oil and pocket the profits ( say at least 70+%) do it!!!
We are also helping ourselves out.
Please elaborate.
Could we exact a “tariff” on the Iranian oil bound for China and Europe? If they want it badly enough, they’ll have to pay for it.
.
Better we force them to protect the shipping of their oil so they tie down part of their navy away from Taiwan and the other countries in the Pacific.
Iran has a number of islands in the Persian Gulf, we should seize any strategic island they have.
The problem with that, particularly with Kharg, is that they still have a huge supply of short-range missiles, and these are small islands, hard to miss. If we occupy Kharg, for instance, they will immediately rain missiles down on it and we will lose a lot of people.
You’re all missing a side part that is awesome.
https://europeanbusinessmagazine.com/business/how-america-replaced-lloyds-of-london-in-48-hours-and-took-control-of-the-worlds-most-critical-oil/
How America Took Lloyd’s 300-Year Oil Empire in 48 Hours
March 10, 2026
The 300-Year Empire That Died in 48 Hours — and Who Just Replaced It
Something fundamental shifted in global power last week. It happened quietly, without a treaty signing or a military declaration, buried beneath the noise of oil price headlines and diplomatic communiqués.
But its implications for who controls the world’s energy infrastructure — and therefore the world economy — are as significant as anything that has happened in the past three decades.
This is an important development. The US Navy has guaranteed whatever safety there is on the high seas for decades. It will no longer be free of charge with Trump.
Like it or not that will mean an expansion of our navy by quite a bit at a time we are having difficulty building every type of ship and facing a war by the end of the decade with China This will cost a lot not only in ships but in the need for more personnel. How many trillion dollars in debt are we now and how livable is this country now?
What part of “no longer free of charge” did you not understand?
Do you have idea how much naval ships cost? No you don’t have a clue do you.
A carrier for instance costs 13 billion without planes and takes as I recall 10 years to build. Virginia fast attack subs cost about 3 billion and they are now 410 months behind schedule. We are decommissioning ships and can’t build their replacements,
Provided we can build enough ships to station in the Strait without causing problems elsewhere I doubt we can retrieve anywhere near enough from transit fees to offset the cost and we certainly can’t build them overnight.
I didn’t miss it. It was my previous post.
Was it? When I click on your name, the previous post I see was about Venezuela, and the ones before it were about polio, California, and China. Maybe there’s one in the queue that didn’t post?
I don’t see how Lloyd’s can be described as having a “300 year oil empire”. 300 years ago no petroleum was being shipped anywhere, because there was no market for it. The only oil being shipped was olive oil, and none of it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
(Yes, Lloyd’s was underwriting those olive oil shipments’ insurance, but that’s not what the article’s claim refers to.)
But speaking of how power shifts between cities, remember how the City of London came to its prominence in the financial world in the first place. That place used to belong to Amsterdam, until the Netherlands effectively conquered the UK in what we remember as the Glorious Revolution. Far from being a native uprising against James II, it was an invasion by a Dutch army. Parliament’s “invitation” to the invaders was made after it had already happened and the invaders were in control. The Dutch head of state and his wife became joint sovereigns of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and therefore moved his capital to London. Amsterdam’s financial industry relocated its headquarters to the new capital, so when William died and his sister-in-law Anne inherited the British Isles but not the Dutch Republic, England remained as the world’s dominant financial center while the Netherlands declined.
The Saudis are getting a pipeline to the Red Sea operating to capacity of 7 million bpd up from 1 million bpd. An additional 6 million bpd plus a few million from the sparse number of tankers willing to brave the run is significantly lowering oil prices. The IN option Trump offered is three fold. First gets IN available, second undercuts Lloyd’s, third it highlights exactly which tanker fleets are making excuses. Personally I’d reward the fleets/shippers willing to trust the USA by refusing to protect the fleets/shippers who are unwilling to trust us.
“F* the missiles. Save the world.”
Is “Heroes” planning another series reboot?