Zelensky Volunteers Ukraine’s Black Sea Playbook to Bust Iran’s Hormuz Blockade
While American energy prices spike and the global economy takes a hit from Iran’s reckless shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, Ukraine’s president is offering his country’s hard-won naval tricks to help reopen the critical oil chokepoint.
In a NewsNation interview, Volodymyr Zelensky pointed to Ukraine’s success running grain ships past Russian attacks in the Black Sea. He said Kyiv stands ready to share expertise on escorts, air and sea interceptors, electronic warfare, and other tools to restore free navigation if partners ask.
The timing is no coincidence. Iran, reeling from U.S. and Israeli strikes, has mined waters, attacked merchant ships, and declared the strait off-limits to vessels tied to America and its allies. That waterway carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. The disruption is driving up fuel costs everywhere and handing leverage to bad actors.
Zelensky framed it as a chance for joint action against threats to energy security. But the subtext is clear: Ukraine wants deeper ties with the West and is positioning itself as a useful player while still locked in its own grinding war with Russia, which is quietly aiding Iran with intel and weapons.
Conservatives have long warned that endless blank-check aid to Kyiv distracts from core U.S. interests like securing energy flows and deterring Iran. Now Zelensky is essentially asking to tag along in a real great-power confrontation, touting battlefield lessons bought with Western weapons and cash.