2026-03-18 05:21 • jwsmythe
Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has stoked fears of the gravest disruption to global oil supply in history, as the Middle East conflict stretches into its third week.
The blockade has squeezed shipping traffic to a trickle, with just 21 tankers transiting the route since the war began on Feb. 28, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, compared to more than 100 ships daily before the conflict.
Most vessels appear to be holding positions outside Hormuz, with thousands of seafarers stranded aboard vessels in the Gulf. Some have explored a pivot to disperse to alternative ports.
Roughly 400 vessels were spotted operating in the Gulf of Oman, as a massive backlog of ships waited near the chokepoint, according to a report from maritime intelligence firm Windward on Sunday.
While Iran has kept a tight grip on the strait, a small number of other ships have made the crossing under varying circumstances, signaling that Tehran is selectively letting through some non-Iranian oil cargo in negotiated safe voyages, according to maritime analysts.
2026-03-16 19:53 • jwsmythe
Cuba's national electric grid has collapsed, leaving around 10 million people without power amid a U.S.-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the island's already obsolete generation system.
Cuba's grid operator UNE said it was investigating the causes of the blackout, the latest in a series of widespread outages that stem for hours or days.
The blackouts sparked a rare violent protest in the Communist-run country this weekend.
The United States has ratcheted up pressure this year on long-time foe Cuba since capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Cuba's most important foreign benefactor, in early January.
U.S. President Donald Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened to slap tariffs on any country that sells oil to Cuba, strangling the island's already antiquated grid.