In the last two weeks, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has repeatedly claimed responsibility for missile strikes on several oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, branding the vessels as “offending supertankers that ignored warnings, turned off their navigation systems, and attempted to traverse a mined route.” The IRGC attacks, paired with accusations that Washington incited the vessels and threats of a global energy crisis if the strait remains disrupted, give the United States and its regional partners a clear opening to break Tehran’s energy blackmail.

By starving the regime of its last hard-currency lifeline, forcing China—the buyer of 85% of Iran’s discounted crude—to absorb direct costs, degrading the physical infrastructure that sustains both oil exports and domestic gas production, eliminating surviving senior leaders, and creating the conditions for internal opposition to finish the job, America could regain the upper hand.

Kpler data show that Iran moved 1.61 million barrels per day of crude exports over the past year, with 1.52 million barrels per day—94 percent—transiting through the single Kharg Island terminal, which has roughly 31 million barrels of storage capacity. Permanent denial of Kharg and adjacent Qeshm hubs would slash revenue streams sustaining the IRGC and its proxies while ending Tehran’s capacity for prolonged Hormuz disruption. As aforementioned, China purchases the overwhelming share of these discounted, sanctions-evading barrels via Iran’s shadow fleet operating from Malaysia and Singapore. Therefore, coordinated denial at these nodes imposes direct costs on Beijing’s refiners while the regime loses its key economic support.

At the same time, the United States Strategic Petroleum........

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