Politics 4 min read By Callum Montgomery
US blockade halts $25bn in Iranian oil exports, Centcom says
Admiral Brad Cooper says the naval blockade has stopped Iran exporting at least $25bn of crude and frozen nearly $350m in crypto assets, forcing Tehran to withhold pay from troops and pensioners as unrest grows in the southeast.
The US naval blockade has prevented Iran from exporting at least $25 billion worth of crude oil, according to the head of US Central Command, as Washington intensifies economic pressure on Tehran and the country's security forces go unpaid.
In a video message on Friday, Admiral Brad Cooper said the US and its partners had also frozen nearly $350 million in cryptocurrency assets. The measures, he said, have rippled through Iran's economy and forced the government to withhold salaries, pensions and benefits from workers in energy, manufacturing, construction and security, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
«The financial strain on Iran's military has become so significant that there are reports of Iran-aligned militia groups across the region withholding payments to their soldiers in order to funnel money back to the IRGC, which also is not paying its troops,» Cooper said. «The Islamic regime is clearly feeling the economic pain, and the IRGC is increasingly showing signs of greater desperation as a result.»
Cooper pointed to a resurgence in Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf in recent weeks. Even so, oil flows in the region remain close to prewar levels, as Iran's neighbours export their crude under the protection of the US military.
The financial squeeze is severe enough that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has expressed concern. State media reported earlier this month that Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's top security official, admitted the country was going through one of the most difficult periods it has ever faced.
Iran's currency is in free fall as oil revenue dries up. The remaining trickle of sales comes from crude that was already at sea before the US reimposed the blockade, and payments for those final deliveries, which mostly go to China, could stretch to December. Once that source runs dry, Tehran will lose what was previously its top source of hard currency. Oil sales typically account for about a third of the state budget and are a key source of funding for the IRGC.
The Centcom assessment follows earlier signs of a cash crunch. Local media have reported that retired government employees staged protests in recent weeks after not receiving their full pensions, while public and private sector workers have announced on social media that they are quitting over insufficient pay. Inflation is now close to 90 per cent and accelerating each month, eroding wages and forcing consumers to buy everyday essentials such as groceries on instalment plans.
The inability to pay troops comes at a critical moment. Iran's military is becoming more aggressive in the Strait of Hormuz against tankers, is preparing for a possible fresh US offensive after the midterm elections, and is simultaneously fighting growing domestic unrest.
Separatist militants in the southeastern provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, where Iran has long battled insurgencies, have stepped up attacks. State media reported that at least eight members of Iran's security forces have been killed there in the past three weeks, including a police officer, a Basij militia fighter and a senior IRGC commander.
According to Shay Khatiri, a senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute, Iran's security forces are stretched by a lack of resources as well as by increased foreign and internal threats. «As the Iranian regime weakens, the number of such local movements will likely multiply in number and consolidate in power,» he wrote in a post for the Middle East Forum.
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