Warfare extends far beyond the battlefield and can incorporate tactics that are unconventional to the average soldier. In these turbulent times, rising and established powers are precariously pushing the limits of confrontation.
Seizing international waterway vessels belonging to the oil transportation industry appears to be the latest form of conflict between two countries that have been competing with one another for nearly 50 years.
The rise of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has proven to be a direct threat to one of the world’s most vital geographic locations: the Strait of Hormuz. Much of the world’s oil flows through this narrow waterway, which has now become a contested hotspot in the standoff between the Western world and Tehran.
But the utilization of tankers as weapons in international warfare did not originate in the waterways of the Middle East. Russia has been using old, decommissioned oil ships to drag their anchors across the ocean floor in the Mediterranean, Baltic, and Arctic Seas, cutting electricity lines responsible for providing a significant portion of Europe’s energy. That tactic has been deployed to extend the fighting on Russia’s Ukrainian front into Western territory.
Citizens in countries that rely on these telecommunication lines depend on them for internet access, electricity, and the foundation of other critical aspects of society, such as hospitals. A number of tankers have damaged these lines using this method, and more importantly, Moscow has drawn the attention of the United States.
Washington has now adopted hybrid warfare to extend its campaign into the Caribbean Sea following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Marinera, a crude oil tanker, was seized shortly after the president’s capture as a secondary measure to reinforce Washington’s zero-tolerance policy regarding the blockade of Venezuelan oil.
The ship had previously flown under South American flags before pledging allegiance to Russia following an earlier attempt by the U.S. Coast Guard to seize the vessel. Overall, this signals that Russian efforts to utilize tankers as tools of leverage cannot easily be extended beyond Europe, where even those vessels remain under threat of boarding and seizure.
In light of the recent confirmation of U.S.-Iran negotiations regarding nuclear power set to take place in Oman in the coming days, Tehran has seized a foreign oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. These chess moves are intended to provide the government with considerable leverage heading into the talks. With the operation deemed successful, Tehran has demonstrated that the United States can be matched in strategic war games.
Protests within Iran, however, have left the country teetering on the edge of revolution, and Operation Midnight Hammer, the United States’ June strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, has reportedly pushed back Iran’s nuclear capabilities by one to three years.
Even so, the situation now hinges on how oil tankers move throughout the world, as the United States effectively controls Venezuela, one of the richest oil-producing countries in the world. Regardless of how global tensions unfold, the geopolitical scale has become centered on these ships and the leverage they represent for those powerful enough to seize them.