Mideast’s Rising War Risk Puts Spotlight on Iran’s Quiet Oil Comeback

  • Iran’s output is close to full capacity despite US sanctions
  • Oil prices have jumped on risk that Israel could strike Iran
Kharg Island oil terminal, Iran.Photographer: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu/Getty Images
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Iran’s oil production has defied years of US sanctions to return to almost full capacity — a tide of supply that looks increasingly vulnerable as tensions with Israel flare.

The Islamic republic’s output has climbed by a third in the past two years to reach 3.4 million barrels a day, as cut-price supplies attracted Chinese buyers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s just a few hundred thousand barrels a day short of the levels pumped before then-president Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions in 2018.