US Treasury sanctions Iran's Hormuz strait authority

The United States has sanctioned the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the body Iran has set up to manage the Strait of Hormuz, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

• The authority is a body Iran has set up to manage requests for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

• Tehran's grip on the strait, the conduit for about a fifth of the global oil supply, has sent the world economy into turmoil.

• It closed the strait after the U.S. and Israel launched its war against Iran on February 28.

• Anyone cooperating with the authority may be providing support to and receiving services from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and may be sanctioned, the Treasury said in a statement.

• "The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

• The Persian Gulf Strait Authority published a map last week reaffirming Tehran's claims to a wide stretch of water on either side of the choke point.

  -Bhargav Acharya and Jasper Ward/Reuters