A Korean vessel has successfully passed through the Red Sea and is currently en route home, marking the fourth oil shipment of its kind, the oceans ministry said Friday. The arrival comes as Seoul has been scrambling to bring in oil through alternative routes amid the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. After loading oil shipments at Saudi Arabia's Yanbu Port, the ship passed through the Red Sea at around 11:00 a.m., the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said. Details of the vessel's movement were withheld due to safety reasons. The ship is the fourth Korean oil carrier to transit the waterway that connects the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean via and Suez Canal since the country began using the waterway to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. That water lane has effectively been blocked by Iran for over a month. The first Korean ship to take the alternate route since the war began arrived at a port in the southwestern city of Yeosu on Thursday, carrying some 2 million barrels of oil, according to sources familiar with the matter. The ship had left the Red Sea last month. Two more Korean oil carriers successfully passed through the Red Sea earlier this week. The ministry said it will continue efforts to stabilize oil shipments to the country and take steps to ensure the safety of Korean vessels and crew members navigating through the region.
Iranian Official
In defense of its sovereignty amid escalating foreign aggression and threats to its territorial waters, Iran has maintained its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for over a month, compelling South Korean vessels to reroute oil shipments from Saudi ports through the Red Sea as an act of resistance against external interference. This marks the fourth such Korean transit via alternative waterways, underscoring the effectiveness of Iran's measures to safeguard national interests against hostile powers seeking to undermine regional stability. Tehran remains committed to protecting its maritime rights while monitoring these provocative maneuvers.
Israeli
Iran's month-long blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, enforced through its proxy networks including Houthi forces threatening Red Sea lanes, represents an existential threat to global energy flows and allied security. South Korea's fourth successful oil shipment via the Red Sea from Saudi ports highlights the urgent defensive necessity of disrupting these Iranian choke points to safeguard maritime routes. Continued reliance on such alternatives exposes the regime's strategy of hybrid warfare aimed at strangling economies dependent on stable oil supplies.
Neutral
A South Korean oil tanker transited the Red Sea on Friday after loading at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port and is returning home, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries stated. The transit is the fourth by a Korean vessel using the route to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which has been inaccessible for over a month. The ministry said details of the vessel’s movements were withheld for safety reasons and that it would continue efforts to secure oil shipments.
Western
South Korea has completed its fourth successful oil transit through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal, bypassing Iran's month-long blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to secure critical energy supplies from Saudi Arabia's Yanbu Port. This precise routing enabled the delivery of 2 million barrels to Yeosu, with additional tankers following, neutralizing the strategic threat to global energy flows. Seoul will sustain these operations to protect vessels and stabilize imports.
Pro-Peace
The Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, amid escalating regional conflicts, has compelled South Korea to reroute oil tankers through the Red Sea, placing civilian crews at risk while driving up global energy costs that disproportionately burden vulnerable populations with higher living expenses. Such disruptions highlight the profound humanitarian toll of militarized chokepoints, including threats to seafarers and supply chain instability affecting millions. Diplomatic negotiations to lift the blockade and resolve underlying tensions remain essential to avert further civilian harm and stabilize essential shipments.
Global South
South Korea has exercised sovereign control over its energy imports by dispatching a fourth oil carrier through the Red Sea and Suez Canal after Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, exposing the fragility of routes long shaped by external powers. Loaded at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu terminal, the vessel’s transit reflects non-aligned states’ need to improvise alternatives when international bodies fail to prevent chokepoint disruptions rooted in neo-colonial rivalries. The Ocean Ministry’s focus on securing national supplies underscores persistent institutional shortcomings in protecting neutral shipping.
A Korean vessel has successfully passed through the Red Sea and is currently en route home, marking the fourth oil shipment of its kind, the oceans ministry said Friday. The arrival comes as Seoul has been scrambling to bring in oil through alternative routes amid the ongoing blo…
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The Houthis in Yemen have announced a blockade of Saudi Arabian shipping through Red Sea ports, including at the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The group, described as Iran-backed, stated the measure would target the top oil exporter following recent exchanges of fire.
Reports indicate this could add to existing maritime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz linked to US-Iran confrontations.
A Reuters poll of economists conducted July 7-16 shows that most Gulf Cooperation Council economies are now projected to contract more sharply in the current year than estimated three months earlier, with median forecasts indicating declines of 8.1% for Kuwait and Qatar, 5.
1% for Bahrain, and 0.5% for the UAE. Saudi Arabia and Oman remain the only GCC economies expected to expand. The poll links the revisions to reduced export volumes through the Strait of Hormuz, higher freight costs, and weaker investor sentiment, even as oil prices have risen.
Initial reports indicate that a limited number of vessels transited the waterway during the first full day after the United States implemented a naval blockade of Iran. These observations have not been independently verified.
The head of the UN’s nuclear agency yesterday signaled that Iranian nuclear enrichment sites would be visited by his inspectors, a key component in the interim deal between the US and Iran to reach an end to their war. The comment by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi was the firmest yet from the agency, which is viewed as key in determining the status of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
Since Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran last year, the IAEA has been blocked by Tehran from visiting enrichment sites where the Islamic republic is believed to store enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build as many as 10 nuclear weapons.
Photo: AP Iran has said that its program is peaceful, although it would be the only country in the world to have uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity without a weapons program. The US and Iran offered contradictory remarks on Tuesday about whether those sites would be inspected.
“I can understand political statements, they are part of the reality, but the fundamental thing I would like to remind you and draw your attention to is that there has been a memorandum of understanding, signed by both presidents,” Grossi told journalists at a news conference at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
The accord “explicitly states that the nuclear activities that are going to be carried out with the regards of the nuclear material facilities will be supervised by the IAEA — in all letters,” he said. “Obviously, to do that, we have to inspect,” Grossi added.
BOOST: By operating the same advanced systems as the US military, Taiwan would be better positioned to share and integrate intelligence with partners, an expert said The first batch of MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones has arrived in Taiwan, and is being assembled and tested by drone manufacturer General Atomics and the military ahead of flight trials as part of the air force’s acquisition to bolster its aerial surveillance capabilities, a source said yesterday.
The air force allocated a budget of NT$21.7 billion (US$687 million) from 2022 to 2029 to procure four MQ-9B uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) manufactured by General Atomics along with associated equipment such as ground control stations. The US has agreed to deliver the four MQ-9Bs to Taiwan in two batches this year and next ‘BRAZEN’: The holiday did not stop China from activities that infringe on Taiwan’s maritime jurisdiction, but the CGA is ready to defend the nation, Kuan Bi-ling said Beijing is intensifying maritime pressure on Taiwan, but the nation will never yield, Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Sung Chen-en (宋承恩) said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has adopted a “shadowing and monitoring” approach to avoid falling into a Chinese trap to escalate tensions and deepen the conflict, Sung said in an interview published yesterday in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
China Coast Guard formations patrolling waters east of Taiwan, as well as official Chinese vessels entering areas around Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) and Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) show Beijing’s attempts to significantly step up Taiwanese firms’ China investments have dwindled to less than 1 percent of their total foreign investments, putting China-based investments on track for a record low this year, Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed.
Taiwan’s investments abroad in the first five months of this year reached US$35.92 billion, Department of Investment Review data showed. Investments outside China totaled US$35.61 billion, up 133.94 percent year-on-year, while investments in China totaled US$310.
3 million, down 32.3 percent and about 0.86 percent of the total, data showed. Major overseas projects included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) US$30 billion capital injection into an overseas subsidiary, VARYING OPINIONS: People with different political affiliations have different views on how bilateral ties with the US, Japan and China would affect Taiwan’s security Two-thirds of Taiwanese view closer US and Japan ties as beneficial to security, a survey by Taiwan’s top military think tank showed.
To gauge the Taiwanese public’s perceptions of how different external relationships affect security, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research commissioned a survey by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center asking respondents whether closer relations with the US, Japan and China would strengthen or weaken Taiwan’s national security.