WASHINGTON — Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed Thursday to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed as a “tool to pressure the enemy” — as US officials admitted the crucial shipping lane could remain closed for weeks.
The cost of oil surged as the Trump administration acknowledged it would be a longer-term problem — with one military fix of naval escorts not available until April.
Brent crude crossed $100 per barrel — up 50% from a month ago —as most oil tankers were unwilling to go anywhere near the Iranian coastline.
Iran has attacked at least seven ships in the Persian Gulf since Wednesday.
The two most damaging attacks were carried out by explosive-laden boats against the tankers Safesea Vishnu and Zefyros in Iraqi waters close to Iran, killing at least one crew member and setting the vessels ablaze.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility, releasing a video of the burning Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu in which a man shouts: “Allah is the greatest! The destruction of an American tanker in the northern district of the Persian Gulf! I obey you Khamenei!”
In another show of defiance after 12 days of US-Israeli airstrikes, the Iranian military released footage of an underground “missile city” filled with an enormous supply of suicide drones, sea mines and anti-ship missiles.
Follow The Post’s latest coverage on the blocked Strait of Hormuz and its lasting effects
Mojtaba Khamenei, meanwhile, made his first televised address since being elected the theocracy’s supreme leader, vowing to avenge the deaths of his father, wife, son and sister in airstrikes on the first day of the war.
“Certainly, the lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used,” said the hardline 56-year-old successor to his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He said the action was a “tool to pressure the enemy.”
The statements come after Trump declared “we’ve won” the war against the “virtually destroyed” country of 92 million people.
“You never like to say too early you won. We won. We won — in the first hour, it was over,” the president said Wednesday during a speech in Kentucky.
Iran’s government said otherwise.
A military spokesman for the Islamic Republic, Ebrahim Zolfaqari, taunted the US, saying: “Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilized.”
‘We’re simply not ready’
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday that US military escorts for oil tankers through the crucial Strait of Hormuz “can’t happen now” but are “quite likely” to be in place by April.
“It can’t happen now,” Wright told CNBC when asked about the possibility of military shipping assistance.
“We’re simply not ready. All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities.”
Pressed on whether the US Navy would be escorting ships “by the end of the month,” Wright said, “Yes, I think that is quite likely the case.”
About 20% of global oil shipments transit the Strait of Hormuz — most of it going to Asian countries, though the bottleneck has put upward pressure on prices globally.
Shipping in the waterway mostly has stopped since the war began on Feb. 28.
According to MarketWatch, just eight commercial transits through the strait were recorded Tuesday, most with links to Iran or China — down dramatically from an average of 153 ships per day ahead of the attack.
In addition to oil, the strait is an important passageway for natural gas and helium, which is used for cooling in semiconductor manufacturing.
Earlier this week, Trump promised that “when the time comes, the US Navy and its partners will escort tankers through the strait, if needed.
“I hope it’s not going to be needed, but if it’s needed, we’ll escort them right through.”
Meanwhile, the president has attempted to coax ships to make the risky voyage by offering a new $20 billion US government-backed maritime reinsurance program, but has found few takers.
Trump has sought to blunt the impact of the war — which he says is proceeding ahead of his original four-week timeframe.
On Wednesday, the president authorized the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next 120 days — an amount equivalent to nearly nine days of domestic consumption.
Other major countries committed to a cumulative release of a further 228 million barrels to tamp down global costs.
Trump also is considering issuing temporary waivers of the Jones Act of 1920 to allow foreign ships to transport fuel between US ports.
Energy prices have a significant pass-through effect on the cost of other goods, and the war threatens to reverse substantial progress on lowering inflation, which remained at an annual rate of 2.4% in February.
Gasoline prices have surged due to the conflict, with the cost of regular fuel averaging $3.60 per gallon nationwide on Thursday, up from $2.94 one month ago, according to AAA data.
Rising prices threaten to undermine Trump’s political messaging on affordability issues ahead of the November midterm elections, which will dictate the course of his final two years in office.
