Iran Claims Oil Exports Continue Despite US Military Blockade of Ports
Iran's public acknowledgment that US forces have attacked Kharg Island marks a significant escalation in the visibility of enforcement actions that Washington has not formally confirmed.
Iran's Petroleum Minister Mohsen Paknejad stated publicly on September 3, 2026, that the country's oil industry continues to move exports despite an active US military blockade of Iranian ports and vessels, according to Middle East Eye, which cited Paknejad's remarks to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).
Paknejad described the situation as difficult but said Iranian authorities have developed multiple strategies to maintain oil flow. "We are pursuing various strategies and have taken measures to overcome the blockade," he told ISNA, without specifying the mechanisms in use.
The minister confirmed that US forces had carried out attacks on Kharg Island, located off Iran's southwest coast in the Persian Gulf. Kharg Island is Iran's primary crude oil export terminal, handling a substantial share of the country's seaborne petroleum exports. The island's infrastructure has historically been a focal point during periods of US-Iran tension.
The US government had not, as of the publication of this article, issued a formal statement confirming or denying the attacks on Kharg Island or the scope of the naval blockade. What would clarify the US position is an official statement from the Department of Defense or the US Fifth Fleet, which is responsible for Persian Gulf operations.
Iran is currently subject to a broad framework of US sanctions on its oil sector, first reimposed in 2018 following the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and expanded in subsequent years. The sanctions prohibit third-country buyers from purchasing Iranian crude under threat of secondary penalties.
Despite those sanctions, Iran has continued to export oil, primarily to China, according to data tracked by commodity analytics firms including Kpler and Vortexa in prior reporting. The volume of those exports has fluctuated depending on the intensity of enforcement and buyer appetite for discounted Iranian crude.
A naval blockade would represent a more direct form of enforcement than financial sanctions, involving physical interdiction of vessels carrying Iranian oil rather than penalties imposed on financial intermediaries or end buyers. International maritime law distinguishes between a legal blockade, which requires formal declaration and notification to neutral states, and a de facto interdiction operation. The legal basis of the current US actions has not been publicly explained by Washington.
Kharg Island processes an estimated 90 percent of Iran's crude exports, according to prior reporting by Reuters and the US Energy Information Administration. Any sustained disruption to its operations would directly affect Iran's principal source of government revenue. Iran's 2025 national budget was reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency to depend heavily on oil and gas revenues to fund public expenditures.
Global oil markets have historically responded to supply disruption risk in the Persian Gulf. The Strait of Hormuz, adjacent to Kharg Island's export lanes, carries an estimated 20 percent of the world's seaborne oil trade, according to the US Energy Information Administration. How current interdiction operations are affecting tanker insurance rates and routing decisions in the region is not yet established in available public reporting.
Iran's public disclosure of the blockade and the Kharg Island attacks, delivered through a ministerial statement to a domestic news agency rather than a formal diplomatic channel, signals that Tehran has chosen to publicize the confrontation rather than manage it quietly. The political and diplomatic consequences of that choice, including any response from Gulf neighbors or European parties to the original nuclear agreement, remain to be seen.