The European oil embargo taking effect Sunday, July 1 blocks the sale to EU members of one-third of Iran’s daily output of 3.3 million barrels a day. From now on, EU insurance firms withhold cover from governments and firms operating tankers delivering Iranian oil. The embargo was clamped down after diplomatic efforts failed to halt Iran’s nuclear weapon program. Gulf armies led by Saudi Arabia are on alert for reprisals.  Two oil pipelines have been activated to bypass the Strait of Hormuz if it is blocked.

On Aug. 6, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency informed Congress of the sale to Israel of 60 million gallons of unleaded gasoline, 284 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel and 100 million gallons of diesel fuel worth an estimated $2bn, saying: "Israel will have no difficulty absorbing this additional fuel into its armed forces." debkafile notes the date: Ten days after a Japanese supertanker tanker carrying 200,000 tons of oil was attacked heading out of the Strait of Hormuz.

To meet increasingly defiant Iranian threats to US regional military forces, Washington has detached the USS Truman carrier from support duty for Afghanistan in the Arabian Sea and reassigned it to Dubai opposite the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz with thousands of marines aboard.
IRGC Navy chief announced the introduction of twelve new torpedo and missile cruisers and speedboats equipped for striking air carriers. Another IRGC commander said mass graves had been dug for American troops.

The Japanese supertanker M. STAR was damaged in an attack near the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday, July 28. One lifeboat was blown off the ship and a large dent made in its hull.
debkafile: Most unusually, US Navy and Iranian officials agreed that the the damage to the tanker, the first attacked in the strategic straits, was caused by an explosion by an unknown hand and must be contained before it gets out of control.

The stakes are rising sharply in the naval competition between Iran on the one hand and the US, the UK and other NATO countries which have a shipping presence in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden and Red Sea off Yemen. America may need to deploy a second carrier.