ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

The US Department of Defense estimates that Iran has lost nearly five billion dollars in oil revenue as a result of the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported early Saturday morning. 

According to Pentagon officials, over 40 vessels carrying oil and other contraband have been redirected by the US military since the blockade began on April 13th.

Two ships have been seized by the US, and 31 tankers carrying 53 million barrels of Iranian oil are stuck in the Gulf of Oman with a value of over $4.8 billion, Axios wrote.

Iran running out of oil storage

Iran is also running out of storage capacity for the oil it is producing, and may reach capacity within 15 to 60 days, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday. 

“The blockade is working to perfection,” a US official told the Post. “There is no economic trade going into or out of Iran.”

U.S. forces patrol the Arabian Sea near M/V Touska on April 20, 2026, after firing upon the Iranian-flagged vessel that the U.S. accused of attempting to violate the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. forces patrol the Arabian Sea near M/V Touska on April 20, 2026, after firing upon the Iranian-flagged vessel that the U.S. accused of attempting to violate the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz. (credit: U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

As a result, Iran has been forced to store all the oil it extracts in various ways, the official said, adding that this includes onshore storage and floating storage aboard vessels, particularly Very Large Crude Carriers. VLCCs are supertankers designed for longer-distance transport and typically carry about two million barrels of crude oil.

It is estimated that once Iran’s storage capacity is exhausted, it could create conditions more favorable for a potential agreement between the US and Iran.

US Navy acting like pirates, Trump says

US President Donald Trump said on Friday the US Navy was acting "like pirates" in carrying out Washington's naval blockade of Iranian ports during the US and Israel's war against Iran.

Trump made the comments while describing the seizure by US forces of a ship a few days ago.

"We took over the ship, we took over the cargo, we took over the oil. It's a very profitable business," Trump said in remarks on Friday evening. "We're like pirates. We're sort of like pirates, but we are not playing games."

Some of Tehran's vessels have been seized by the US after leaving Iranian ports, along with sanctioned container ships and Iranian tankers in Asian waters.

Amichai Stein and Reuters contributed to this report.