Iran's Hormuz Campaign Decoded: How IRGC Has Turned Maritime Insurance Into Economic Weapon | Exclusive

Last Updated:March 10, 2026, 00:11 IST

Iran's strategy has triggered a massive retreat by the world’s leading maritime financial institutions with major insurers either pausing or reducing war-risk cover in Gulf waters

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have successfully turned the international maritime insurance market into a potent weapon of economic warfare by effectively controlling the Strait of Hormuz — a vital energy artery through which approximately 20 percent of the world’s total petroleum and LNG flows daily.

An elite force of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) poses a massive threat to ships attempting to pass the Strait of Hormuz, due to which there has been a near-total halt of tankers carrying oil from major producers like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait.

This, in turn, has threatened global economic stability, which led to soaring crude prices that touched USD 120 per barrel on Monday. Fuel costs have sent governments scrambling with many imposing protection measures while others mull their strategic reserves as a result of massive disruption to industrial supply chains.

The IRGC has moved from conventional naval skirmishes to a calculated “grey-zone" strategy by leveraging a combination of deniable proxy attacks and the rigid legal frameworks of global shipping.

WHAT IS THIS ‘PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN?

For decades, the threat to the Strait of Hormuz was perceived as a physical blockade. But recent data accessed by intelligence agencies has revealed “asymmetric maritime risk engineering".

According to top intelligence sources, instead of deploying naval mines or engaging in direct fleet confrontations, the IRGC is exploiting the financial mechanisms that allow commercial vessels to operate.

The intelligence sources told News18 that in the last 10 days alone, the dynamics of war-risk insurance around Hormuz have sharply shifted. Premiums for war coverage on vessels attempting the transit have surged from approximately 0.2 to 0.4 percent of a ship’s value to as much as 3 percent.

The sources said for a modern tanker valued between USD 200 million and USD 300 million, this means a single journey now incurs an insurance cost of USD 7 million or more. These costs act as a functional barrier, forcing commercial operators to halt transits as the financial protection required to sail becomes unsustainable.

WHAT ARE INSURERS DOING, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The IRGC’s strategy has triggered a massive retreat by the world’s leading maritime financial institutions. Major insurers and protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs, including Gard, Skuld, NorthStandard, the London P&I Club, and Japan’s MS&AD Insurance Group, have either paused or drastically scaled back war-risk cover in Gulf waters.

On March 5, these insurers invoked standard cancellation clauses issuing notices that effectively stripped vessels of their legal ability to sail through the region. The impact was immediate: the daily traffic of roughly 50 tankers through the strait plummeted to near zero initially.

The intelligence sources said central to the strategy is the use of the Quds Force to activate deniable proxy networks. Iran uses groups such as the Houthis and Iraqi militias to conduct limited drone operations and controlled attacks.

They said these operations are meticulously calibrated to sustain a perception of deep insecurity while remaining below the threshold that would justify a direct US or allied military strike.

“Iran is not physically blocking the Strait," a top intelligence source said, “but it is maintaining enough instability to frighten insurers and markets."

The sources said the primary objective is to inflict systemic financial damage on western economies and energy-dependent nations in Asia. India and Japan, both of which rely heavily on Gulf energy imports, are expected to bear disproportionate economic stress due to rising oil prices and freight premiums.

They said the ultimate goal, however, is to use this as diplomatic leverage. By choking Gulf transit indirectly, the IRGC intends for strategic partners of the United States, like India and Japan, to exert pressure on Washington to alter its regional policies.

This method of risk engineering, the sources said, proves that the Guards can destabilise global energy lifelines and trigger worldwide volatility by turning western-dominated financial systems into tools of disruption.

News world Iran's Hormuz Campaign Decoded: How IRGC Has Turned Maritime Insurance Into Economic Weapon | Exclusive

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