Shipping Strikes in Hormuz Leave Both Sides With Economic Pain

Iran's intermittent strikes on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have forced the United States to contend with rising shipping costs and high fuel prices, while Iran's oil exports have been severely hampered, with only a tiny fraction of its pre-war 2 million barrels per day leaving the country. Although US Central Command says most Iranian attacks are intercepted, the associated risk has inflated insurance costs, making it more expensive to hire supertankers than to send rockets into space. With a stockpile of missile components, Iran can sustain asymmetric harassment, and the economic pain on both sides is unlikely to alter the status quo ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.