Iran: all tankers bound for US/Israel are legitimate targets — oil to $200

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command headquarters spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaqari announced a major escalation in Iran's naval and shipping targeting doctrine: all vessels and tankers carrying oil to the United States, Israel, or their partners are now considered legitimate military targets. 'We won't allow even one liter of oil to reach the US, Zionists and their partners. Any vessel or tanker bound to them will be a legitimate target,' Zolfaqari declared. He warned that 'the oil barrel will be at $200 because the oil price depends on the regional security which you have destabilized.' Zolfaqari also announced a shift in Iranian military doctrine — from 'reciprocal hits' responding to specific attacks, to 'continuous strikes' on adversaries regardless of immediate provocation. The declaration of all US/Israel-bound tankers as legitimate targets is among the most sweeping escalatory statements of the war. It effectively extends Iran's declared targeting envelope to any commercial vessel transiting the Persian Gulf, Hormuz, or Arabian Sea carrying oil to Western destinations — potentially threatening the entire global oil shipping system, not merely Iranian-adjacent routes. The $200/barrel threat is calibrated to put pressure on the US domestic economy and Trump's re-election coalition.