Iran War Supercharges Secretive Korean Tycoon’s Big Tanker Bet

Oil tankers anchor off the coast of the UK.Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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By Alex Longley, Charles Gorrivan, Serene Cheong, Weilun Soon, and Lucia Kassai

March 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC

As the war in Iran wreaks chaos across global energy markets, one enigmatic Korean tycoon has seen his earnings soar.

For months, Ga-Hyun Chung has been buying up vast quantities of oil tankers — a bet of unprecedented scale that shook the global shipping market even before the conflict started. Now he’s reaping huge rewards after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz drove chartering rates to never-before-seen highs.