A US naval blockade has cut Iran's oil exports 93% in May to roughly 65,000 barrels a day, and Tehran is turning to Bitcoin and USDT to move money that sanctions have cut off from its banks. The same US-Iran conflict has pushed commodities trader Glencore to seek wider trading-risk limits from its board, and its marketing division posted $3.3 billion in first-half earnings.
A flotilla of Iranian oil tankers is sitting motionless off the country's coast, stranded since the US naval blockade began on April 13 and cut off Tehran's ability to move crude.
Exports collapse under naval blockade
Iran's oil shipments collapsed 93% in May to roughly 65,000 barrels per day, down from over 2 million barrels a day earlier in the year. That month's total volume, just 2.01 million barrels, was worth about $219 million.
The US Navy hasn't shied away from enforcing the blockade. By early June, American forces had boarded and disabled at least nine vessels that tried to breach it, though some slipped through: at least 26 Iranian ships bypassed the blockade by mid-April, and three more navigated around enforcement in June carrying an estimated 4.8 to 5 million barrels.
Sanctions push Tehran toward crypto
With banking channels largely sealed off and shipping routes blocked, Iran has increasingly turned to Bitcoin and the stablecoin USDT to settle oil transactions outside the conventional financial system. Iran even proposed collecting Strait of Hormuz transit tolls of $1 per barrel, payable in crypto.
The US Treasury has taken notice: authorities have sanctioned wallets and exchanges linked to Iranian crypto activity and frozen more than $344 million in related assets.
Glencore asks for more room to trade
As energy and metals markets swung violently during the early days of the US-Iran conflict, Glencore sought board waivers to exceed its standard trading-risk limits, according to Bloomberg. The Swiss-based commodities giant's marketing division booked roughly $3.3 billion in earnings before interest and taxes in the first half of 2026 alone — more than it earned from trading across all of 2025.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, Crypto Briefing
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