🏴☠️ 🇺🇸 🇮🇷 The Strait of Hormuz Crisis: Week 8 Recap: Competing Blockades and Piracy Surge
April 27, 2026
In this episode of What's Going on With Shipping?, Sal Mercogliano dives into the eighth week of the intensifying maritime conflict between the United States and Iran. As both sides enforce competing blockades across the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, and the Arabian Sea, the "choke points" are truly being choked, with significant implications for global trade and oil prices.
00:00 – Intro: Staged Takeover Analysis
01:25 – JMIC Update: Somali Piracy Surge
01:58 – "PEG LEG" & The Pirate Action Groups
03:05 – Regional Threat Overview: The Mine Question
05:41 – The "Umpire's" Data Check: Cargo vs. Tankers
07:22 – The "Donut Hole" & Global Impact
16:04 – Stateless Vessels & Article 110
27:50 – Soapbox: Why No LCS Surge?
33:18 – Economic Fury: Sanctions & Global Trade Shifts
📎 What's Going on With Shipping
🛢📈 — Reuters reports that oil is approaching $100 per barrel following the latest exchange of attacks between Americans and Iranians on oil tankers.
▶️The price of Brent crude has risen to $97.07 per barrel, while American WTI crude has risen to $92.28. In the past week, Brent has risen by 7.8%, while WTI has risen by nearly 10%.
▶️On Saturday, U.S. forces attacked three Iranian oil tankers, one of which was stationed near the island of Kharg, a key center for Iranian oil exports. In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and three more U.S. ships.
▶️In this context, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has sharply declined. Over the past 10 days, an average of only 10 cargo ships have transited the strait per day – the lowest level since May.
The WHO now states on its website:
Vaccination against COVID-19 can trigger multiple sclerosis through cross-reactive CD4+-T cells that recognize the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and myelin peptides.
In other words: Your own immune system destroys the nerve pathways and then attacks your brain and spinal cord.