US launches new barrage of strikes on Iran around Strait of Hormuz
US Central Command has resumed strikes on IRGC targets around the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian attacks on shipping and US bases in Jordan, with Tehran vowing to block Gulf oil exports and Brent climbing sharply. Australia holds only weeks of domestic liquid fuel stocks and imports most refined product through Asian refineries fed by Gulf crude, so a sustained closure would test fuel resilience faster than any Indo-Pacific contingency. A protracted Middle East campaign also draws US carrier, munitions and ISR capacity away from the Western Pacific, weakening the deterrence assumptions underpinning Australian planning against Chinese coercion.
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