Immediate threat to Gulf oil flow lifted
The UK and Iran have shown that they do not want the seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker to be the trigger for an armed conflict
The decision by members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to board the Stena Impero off Oman and force it to sail to Bandar Abbas might well have been the spark to ignite a war in the Gulf. In the event, the UK and Iranian governments are showing clearly that they do not want this to happen. The UK's foreign minister, Jeremy Hunt, while describing the seizure of the tanker as an act of piracy, stressed his country's "desire to de-escalate" the crisis. Instead of direct military action to resolve the tanker issue, he proposed working with other European nations to work out a joint strategy to protect ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Java
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
