{"id":2066,"date":"2026-03-13T12:30:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T12:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/?p=2066"},"modified":"2026-03-13T12:34:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T12:34:49","slug":"gulf-war-halts-oil-at-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/?p=2066","title":{"rendered":"Gulf war halts oil at Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JOHANNESBURG<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cNOT a litre of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d declared Iran in response to 11 days of massive attacks by the United States of America (USA) and Israel, aided by some of Iran\u2019s Gulf neighbours.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smoky skies over the Persian Gulf have blocked the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tehran is experiencing black rain from bombed oil refineries, storage facilities, oil fields, shattered buildings, debris-strewn roads, and widespread environmental devastation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s 90 million population reels from the loss of nearly 50 of its top leaders in what the United States has described as the heaviest bombing since the Second World War, carried out after years of planning, espionage, and covert operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over twenty percent of the world\u2019s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, including shipments from Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key oil and gas facilities, including the Ruwais Refinery in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Aramco\u2019s Ras Tanura terminal, and the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), have been shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oil prices soared to US$100 a barrel before cooling to US$88, with expectations of rising as high as US$200. Airports have been closed, flights cancelled, and millions of people stranded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gulf is on fire, affecting energy supplies worldwide, causing inflation and shortages of essential goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closure also impacts exports of fertilizer and hydrocarbons such as urea, ethane, propane, butane, benzene, toluene, and other heavier polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, while food and medicine imports face severe disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries rushed to the United Nations (UN) Security Council to pass Resolution 2817 on 12 March 2026, demanding that Iran cease attacks on its neighbours, including Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution, co-sponsored by 135 countries, did not blame Israel or the United States, who initiated the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its focus was on halting Iranian attacks to allow Gulf states to resume business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the resolution, Iran continues to face communications jamming and missile strikes from multiple directions, making it difficult to determine the origin of attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 20 American bases in GCC countries, it is unclear which ones launched AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-54 Phoenix, AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), JASSM-Extended Range (JASSM-ER), ballistic, and submarine-launched missiles, as well as AGM-114 Hellfire drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qatar confirmed it accidentally downed two US jets, revealing that American aircraft were operating from its territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In retaliation, GCC countries are firing US-supplied surface-to-air systems such as MIM-104 Patriot, FIM-92 Stinger, RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, and RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow, alongside medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles including MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) \/ Dark Eagle from F-35, Tomahawk missiles, F-15s, and bombers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The African perspective is that hosting American military bases compromises national sovereignty. Many blame former US President Donald Trump for cancelling the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement negotiated by Barack Obama and supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has contributed to the current conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 CAJ News<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHANNESBURG \u2014 \u201cNOT a litre of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d declared Iran in response to 11 days of massive attacks by the United States of America (USA) and Israel, aided by some of Iran\u2019s Gulf neighbours. The smoky skies over the Persian Gulf have blocked the sun. Tehran is experiencing black […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,91],"tags":[408,407],"class_list":["post-2066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-oil-gas","tag-middle-east","tag-oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-strait-of-hormuz"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1-300x182.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1-768x466.jpg","large":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1-1024x621.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1.jpg","post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"administrator","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3d5ebfe727f13fb325bd400aaaf5e789d3e2e20898883d9ae8e3d3d42d58cef?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"JOHANNESBURG \u2014 \u201cNOT a litre of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d declared Iran in response to 11 days of massive attacks by the United States of America (USA) and Israel, aided by some of Iran\u2019s Gulf neighbours. The smoky skies over the Persian Gulf have blocked the sun. Tehran is experiencing black […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Energy","Oil & Gas"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":21,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":3,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1.jpg",1050,637,false],"medium":["https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1-300x182.jpg",300,182,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Oil-ship-suffers-missile-attack-at-Strait-of-Hormuz-Middle-East-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"administrator","author_link":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/?author=2"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3d5ebfe727f13fb325bd400aaaf5e789d3e2e20898883d9ae8e3d3d42d58cef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"Energy<\/a> Oil & Gas<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2068,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions\/2068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}