Updated on: August 22, 2026 / 3:46 AM EDT
/ CBS News
A number of Iraqi oil tankers have been granted permission by Iran to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, according Reuters news agency, quoting Iran's state news agency IRNA.
According to IRNA, the special permission was one of Baghdad's main requests during the Iranian parliament speaker's visit to Iraq last week.
South Korea was set Saturday to send its first trial container through the Arctic, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.
Sailing from Busan New Port, the the "PanStar Acro" container ship will sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.
The ship will leave for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry.
The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship "Dubai Tower", which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Bering Strait before turning west along Russia's Arctic coast.
The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by around 7,000 kilometres (4,300 miles) and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright says that the U.S. military assisted in the passage of "over 15 million barrels of oil and products" through the contested Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
In a social media post Friday evening, Wright wrote that in total, about 20 million barrels of oil left the region on Tuesday, when combined with what was exported out through pipelines.
Wright said that over the past seven days, an average of 8 million barrels of oil per day has left the strait.
Sources with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, told CBS News senior national security correspondent Charlie D'Agata Thursday that the U.S. was utilizing its military and the naval blockade of Iranian ports to try and ensure the safe passage of ships through the strait.
The sources said that the U.S. has also been intercepting Iranian drones and missiles trying to target those ships.
On July 29, CENTCOM said that the U.S. military had assisted in getting about 500 million barrels of oil through the strait since May.
"Make no mistake, thanks to the U.S. Navy, oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz," Wright wrote Friday.