A boat approaches a container ship while crusing in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Khasab, in Oman, on June 25, 2025. GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images
Crude oil and gasoline prices are expected to spike when trading resumes on March 2 as Strait of Hormuz tanker traffic slows to a trickle amid warnings from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that the vital waterway, through which more than 20 percent of the world’s oil is exported from the Persian Gulf, is “effectively closed.”
“Due to the insecure conditions around the strait resulting from the U.S. and Israeli military aggression and Iran’s responses, passage through the strait is currently unsafe,” the IRGC stated on Feb. 28.
