MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. Washington is unlikely to succeed in persuading its allies to escort oil tankers in the Persian Gulf; Paris launches talks on joint nuclear deterrence with nearly a dozen European countries; and Russian petroleum product producers are redirecting fuel shipments to new markets. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Washington will be unable to persuade its allies to escort oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, experts believe. US partners will likely limit their involvement to technical support and symbolic assistance. Earlier, President Donald Trump called on countries that depend on Middle Eastern oil to ensure the security of the Strait of Hormuz. However, Tehran still has the resilience to resist, while the White House is beginning to realize that it has lost its grip on the situation.
Washington is trying to draw its European allies into the Middle East conflict, as the Americans are running out of ways to pressure the Iranian leadership, Pavel Koshkin, a senior researcher at the US and Canadian Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Vedomosti. In his opinion, the White House is also trying to drive down energy prices, including by partially lifting sanctions on the Russian oil industry.
