US Outraged Tanker Seizure, Ignores Its Own Economic Blockades
CBS News highlights Iran's reported seizure of an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, framing it as a disruptive act in a key shipping lane. The report from CBS News (linked: CBS News ) focuses on the 'first such interdiction in months,' implying a return to unwelcome behavior. Left unsaid, however, is the decades-long context of U.S.-led economic sanctions and blockades against Iran, which are,
in effect, economic seizures of an entire nation's ability to trade on global markets. One might wonder if seizure is only 'aggression' when it’s not done by the 'good guys.' While Iran's action impacts one vessel, the US and its allies have, for decades, engaged in comprehensive economic blockades that have crippled Iran's economy and its access to critical goods, including medicine. According to
a 2019 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), US sanctions have severely hampered Iran's ability to finance humanitarian imports, causing severe shortages of essential drugs. So, 'reports of aggression' ring a bit hollow when the reporting network studiously ignores the systemic economic aggression perpetrated by the US, essentially holding an entire country's economy hostage. It appears that only
certain blockades count as 'disruptive.'