Stena Impero Seizure and Strait of Hormuz Tensions Explained

this is the stena empiro a british oil tanker traveling through the persian gulf

on july 19 2019 it was on its way to saudi arabia when it received a radio message from iranian naval forces

[Music] zero degrees immediately later the stena impero was dramatically

boarded and seized using speed boats and helicopters iran's revolutionary guard took control of the

british tanker and took it to an iranian port the stenempiro isn't alone several oil

tankers have run into trouble in recent months already troubled waters were further

roiled with attacks on two oil tankers three iranian vessels tried to block a british tanker

an unnamed u.s official is blaming iran for explosions on four ships iran declared it has seized an iraqi oil

tanker plot these incidents on a map and you'll see them centered around this narrow ocean passage

the strait of hormuz dozens of oil tankers pass through here daily each carrying up to 84 million gallons

of oil this flow of oil represents 20 percent of the world's supply

a former iranian prime minister even referred to this passage as the jugular of the global economy but

these ships and this narrow strip of ocean are caught in the middle of a struggle a

struggle between the us and iran one that has the potential to escalate

and to choke the global economy in the process the strait of hormuz lies between iran

and oman it links the persian gulf to the gulf of oman which eventually leads to the

arabian sea at its narrowest the strait is less than 34 kilometers wide

and oil tankers that pass through here travel on a pair of shipping lanes each three kilometers

wide most of these ships carry petroleum products from the middle east to the

rest of the world and in particular to asia but an attack on any tanker here

regardless of destination can affect the price of oil everywhere that's because oil is a globally traded

product a drop in supply from the gulf can drive up prices from other sources around the world

after two recent oil tankers were attacked in the strait of hormuz the price of oil from the north sea

jumped nearly two dollars per barrel it's because of this strategic importance that the strait of hormuz has

become a place where long simmering tensions between the us and iran are playing out

and it all began with the tanker war [Music] saddam hussein ordered his troops across

the iranian frontier after a series of border skirmishes war broke out in the middle east

in 1980 after iraq invaded iran the us helped iraq and its campaign against iran by providing military

intelligence behind the scenes when iraq wasn't able to topple iranian forces over land

it turned its attention elsewhere missiles against tankers are the weapons that both sides are

using to try and break the stalemate in their war on land iraq moved to cut off iran's main export

it began attacking tankers carrying oil from iranian ports in what became known as

the tanker war iran eventually responded by attacking oil tankers moving to

and from the gulf states some of which were supporting iraq but with iraq being aided by the west

iran had to get creative it turned to sea mines and planted them around the strait of hormuz

for the first time iran was using the disruption of oil moving through hormuz as a weapon but these disruptions

finally drew the us directly into the conflict in 1987 the u.s stepped in to protect

the flow of oil for itself and its allies by escorting tankers tensions between

the two countries began to escalate in 1988 a u.s naval ship struck an iranian mine

injuring u.s sailors on board a couple months later a u.s warship mistook an iranian

passenger aircraft for a fighter jet and shot it down over the strait of hormuz

killing all 290 passengers ronald reagan has issued a statement deeply regretting the loss of life

in what he calls a terrible human tragedy the iran-iraq war ended in august 1988

but conflict between the u.s and iran continued for decades and tensions and distrust grew on both

sides and a major source of that distrust was iran's nuclear program

by 2002 suspicions were growing in the u.s around iran's intentions by now iran was fighting proxy wars

around the middle east and the u.s feared an iranian nuclear weapon could fall into the wrong hands

iran and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil by seeking weapons of mass

destruction these regimes pose a grave and growing danger

there were reports that iran had expansive and undisclosed nuclear facilities like this

one in natanz and this facility in iraq finally in 2011

a un report revealed that iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive

device the mutual distress between the u.s and iran boiled over

they have not found even one gram of uranium to be diverted to military purposes

iran has refused to satisfy legitimate concerns about the nature of its nuclear program

the u.s announced sweeping sanctions against iran president obama signed an executive order that

for the first time specifically targets iran's petrochemical industry iran's oil exports dropped dramatically

and with it iran's income the country's economy began to shrink for the first time

in nearly a decade to fight back iran used the only leverage it had the strait of hormuz

iran threatened to close the passage saying not a drop of oil will pass through the strait of hormuz

if iranian oil is sanctioned and to back its threat iran's navy conducted a 10-day show of

force in the strait u.s naval forces followed suit warning iran that closing the strait

would not be tolerated the threats are being ramped up over a vital oil shipping route the chief of

u.s naval operations has told al jazeera his navy is capable of securing the strait of hormuz should it need to

the u.s navy and the coast guard ships two close encounters just last week the strait of hormuz was once again a

tense conflict zone between iran and the us but this time the two countries reached a diplomatic solution

today after two years of negotiations the united states together with our international partners

has achieved something that decades of animosity has not a comprehensive long-term deal with iran

that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon [Music]

in 2015 iran agreed to scale back its nuclear program and to allow its nuclear facilities to

be monitored in exchange for sanctions relief with sanctions lifted iran's oil exports

picked back up and iran's economy showed signs of recovering

until 2018 i am announcing today that the united states

will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal the fact is this was a horrible one-sided deal that should have

never ever been made claiming the original deal with iran didn't go far enough in

addressing iran's terrorist proxy groups president trump abandoned the nuclear deal with iran and

put sanctions back in place [Music] [Applause]

the ongoing conflict between the two countries has turned hormuz into a flashpoint once again

with tensions at levels not seen since the tinker war tensions with iran have reached a

boiling point iran trouble nothing but trouble the united states is not

interested in diplomacy period president trump says the military was quote cocked and loaded

to carry out airstrikes against iran iran hopes that disrupting the passage of these international tankers will put

pressure on countries to stick with the nuclear deal while also putting pressure on the u.s

to lift sanctions but without the direct diplomatic contact between the u.s and iran

each run-in has the risk of escalating into war one that could disrupt the jugular of

the global economy in the process [Music] you