US says blockade cost Iran $25 billion in oil revenue

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said the US naval blockade had prevented Iran from exporting at least $25 billion worth of crude oil. He also said US authorities had frozen $350 million in Iranian cryptocurrency in recent weeks, adding financial pressure to the restrictions on Iranian trade by sea.

The coverage describes the $25 billion figure as lost oil revenue in the accounts from The Times of India and Sunday Guardian Live, while The Insight International presents it as crude oil exports the blockade stopped. Cooper is the source of the estimate in each account; the reporting does not independently verify the amount.

The Hill and Iran International headlines also attribute the $25 billion claim to CENTCOM, with Iran International's headline additionally saying the IRGC was struggling with paychecks. Cooper said roughly 400 ships and 100 million barrels of oil had moved through the Strait of Hormuz during the preceding week.

The Insight International reports that he said US forces helped Gulf partners move more than 100 million barrels. That outlet also quotes him saying the United States had permitted humanitarian assistance into Iran, while Iranian sea imports and exports were otherwise halted. Those are Cooper's descriptions of the blockade's effects and the movement of shipping.

The accounts give different emphasis to the economic pressure. Sunday Guardian Live says Cooper linked it to payment problems in Iran's military network. The Times of India carries his more specific claim that Iran-aligned groups across the region were withholding soldiers' pay to send money to the IRGC, which, Cooper said, was also not paying its troops.

The Times identifies Hezbollah, Hamas and Shia militias in Iraq among those groups; the other accounts do not name them. These claims about payment flows and military finances are attributed to Cooper, rather than presented as independently established findings.

The Times of India also reports Cooper's claim that increased Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait reflected what he called desperation within the IRGC. It says the Trump administration was maintaining the naval blockade and sanctions while seeking an agreement involving concessions on Iran's nuclear programme.

The same outlet reports that Iran had not answered a US counterproposal intended to end the war. These details situate the blockade within a wider diplomatic effort, but the account does not provide Iran's explanation for the alleged attacks or its position on the counterproposal.

The central claims therefore come from a US military commander: the export loss estimate, the cryptocurrency freeze, the reported financial strain, and the account of shipping movements. The reports do not offer an Iranian response or independent confirmation of the export-loss estimate, the frozen assets, or the alleged payment decisions.

The Strait traffic figures describe substantial movement alongside Cooper's assertion that Iran itself could not trade by sea, with humanitarian assistance excepted. The next relevant developments are whether Iran answers the US counterproposal and whether the US blockade and sanctions continue.

Further reporting would also need to establish how the stated oil-export loss was calculated and whether the claimed effects on IRGC payments can be independently confirmed.