US Receives First Iraq Fuel Oil Cargoes via Syria as Hormuz Squeeze Bites

🛢️ IRAQ — Hormuz choked, so Washington is now buying oil routed through Syria. 📌 LOOK CLOSER: With Hormuz at 6 daily transits, US buyers are sourcing alternatives wherever they exist. Iraq routing through Syria signals Damascus's rehabilitation as a transit state — quietly, commercially. It also hands Baghdad leverage: Iraq controls a supply line the US needs. Sanctions architecture around Syria just became a negotiating chip, not a firewall.