The Trump administration is weighing a plan to intercept and inspect Iranian oil tankers at sea as part of an international agreement that aims to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction, Reuters reported.
The proposal, part of President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, would allow allied nations to examine vessels passing through important shipping channels such as the Malacca Strait in the Indian Ocean. The move could disrupt Iran’s shipments of crude oil, a critical revenue stream for the Islamic Republic, sources told Reuters.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, targeting companies that transport oil from and to U.S.-sanctioned countries. During former president Joe Biden’s term, Iran managed to increase oil exports through its smuggling networks, according to Reuters.
Trump officials are assessing whether the plan could be implemented under the Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S.-led agreement launched in 2003 and signed by more than 100 governments to combat the trafficking of WMDs.
“You don’t have to sink ships or arrest people to have that chilling effect that this is just not worth the risk,” a source told Reuters, saying that delays alone could destabilize Iran’s smuggling networks.
Former national security adviser John Bolton, who helped negotiate the the Proliferation Security Initiative’s formation, said “it would be fully justified” to use the agreement to disrupt Iran’s crude exports, arguing that oil sales are “critical to raise revenue for the government of Iran to conduct both its [nuclear] proliferation activities and support for terrorism.”
