Kremlin says US blockade of Strait of Hormuz will be bad for markets

The Kremlin on Monday criticised an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that the U.S. would blockade the Strait of Hormuz by sealing off access to Iranian ports, saying this would hurt global markets.

The U.S. military said it would block ships from moving in and out of Iran's ports starting at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) on Monday, a move that would prevent roughly two million barrels of Iranian oil a day from entering the world's markets, further tightening global supply.

"Such actions will likely continue to negatively impact international markets. This can be assumed with a high degree of certainty," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He declined to comment further, saying many details of the U.S. plan remained unclear.

-Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan/Guy Faulconbridge/Reuters