Sri Lanka, April 21 -- The European Union will expand the criteria of its Iran sanctions to include those responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut for nearly two months upending global energy and commodities markets, two EU diplomats said.

Tehran effectively closed the strait after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, cutting off roughly one-fifth of ⁠the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

More than a dozen tankers sailed through Hormuz after Iran briefly declared it open on Friday, but the ceasefire agreement was thrown into jeopardy after the United States seized an Iranian cargo ship as it maintained its own military blockade of Iranian ports.

"There was a political ...