U.S. forces have redirected 100 commercial vessels as part of its six-week military blockade of Iranian ports, Central Command said.

More than 200 U.S. aircraft and warships have prevented ships from entering and exiting Iranian ports, Central Command said on Saturday. In addition to redirecting the vessels, more than 15,000 U.S. military personnel have disabled four vessels and allowed 26 humanitarian aid ships to pass.

The blockade has squeezed Iran economically,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in the statement. The blockade is being enforced against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, CENTCOM said.

Source: U.S. Central Command  

U.S. military operations against Iran have caused a massive disruption in oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Only a few ships per day make it through the waterway, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Iranian Economy To Contract

Iran’s economy has felt the brunt of the blockade, with 90% of its annual seaborne trade transiting the Strait. The International Monetary Fund projects that the Iranian economy will contract by 6.1% this year, with 68.9% inflation.  

The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait will cost Iran about $435 million a day in economic damage, Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in April. Unverified videos on social media showed massive fuel lines as residents wait in extreme heat to refuel.

Meanwhile, Washington increased its financial pressure on Tehran. The U.S. sanctioned on Tuesday several Iranian regime currency exchange houses, associated personnel, and front companies, the U.S. Department of State said. The sanctions targeted 19 vessels that enabled Iran's regime “to fund its destabilizing activities across the Middle East," it said. 

The action targets the shadow financial system that allows Iran to move billions of dollars from oil and petrochemical sales. 

U.S. Presses G7 To Squeeze Tehran 

The U.S. is also pressing its allies to tighten the financial noose around Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday urged a Group of Seven conference in Paris to help combat Iranian terrorism.

"Crushing the threat of terrorism compels all of you to step up,” Bessent said in a speech. “Join us in rooting out the financing that sustains it."

G7 finance ministers met in Paris on Monday and Tuesday as they grappled with the fallout from the Middle East conflict. They called for "heightened vigilance" due to "spillovers from the evolving situation in the Middle East."  

The G7 officials reaffirmed their "determination to fight financial crime, including money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." 

War Hits U.S. Economy 

The economic pressure on Iran has not come without a cost to the U.S. itself. The U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28. 

U.S. business activity growth held steady in May at a modest rate compared to earlier in the year, according to flash PMI data from S&P Global on Thursday. A sluggish service sector countered an improved performance in manufacturing, S&P Global said. 

Surging input costs, which jumped in May at the steepest rate since late-2022 on the back of rising war-related supply constraints and steep energy cost increases, contributed to steepening job losses,  S&P Global said. They also caused a further rise in selling price inflation, its highest since August 2022, and lower sales. 

"The damaging economic impact from the war in the Middle East is becoming increasingly evident in the business surveys," Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said. "Demand was again squeezed by a further spike in prices and jobs were cut as firms worried over rising costs and the economic outlook."