The US military began applying a blockade on Monday to all maritime traffic entering or leaving Iranian ports.
According to the US, ships arriving or departing from elsewhere will be allowed passage through the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial sea lane that Iran effectively closed in response to US and Israeli attacks.
This comes after negotiators from Washington and Tehran failed over the weekend to reach an agreement to end the war, which began on February 28.
US President Donald Trump said direct talks with Iran in Pakistan failed because Tehran was “unwilling to give up its nuclear ambitions”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman blamed US “excessive demands and illegal requests.”
- The blockade will cover “the entire Iranian coast,” according to a note sent by the United States Central Command (Centcom) published by the Reuters news agency.
- It will affect ships of any flag in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, east of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Centcom warns that vessels that “enter or leave the blocked zone without authorization will be subject to interception, diversion and capture,” the note indicates.
- It adds that humanitarian shipments, such as food and medical supplies, will be allowed, subject to inspection.
- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says military vessels approaching the strait will be “severely sanctioned.”
What did Trump say about the blockade?
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said his country will begin “BLOCKING any and all ships attempting to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz.”
“I have also instructed our Navy to search for and intercept all ships in international waters that have paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Trump said.
And then he added that the US will also begin destroying the mines he claims Iran has placed in the strait.
“Any Iranian who shoots at us or peaceful vessels will be BLOWN TO HELL!” he continued.
Trump commented that “at some point” an agreement on free passage will be reached, but “Iran has not allowed that to happen by just saying, ‘There may be a mine out there somewhere,’ that no one knows anything about.”
In another post, he added that “Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz and knowingly failed to do so.”
“As they promised, they better start the process to open this INTERNATIONAL WATERWAY AND FAST!”, he stated.
This Monday Trump claims in a new post on Truth Social that Iranian “attack ships” will be “eliminated” if they approach the US naval blockade.
“Iran’s Navy lies at the bottom of the sea, completely annihilated: 158 ships. We have not attacked their small number of what they call ‘fast attack ships,’ because we did not consider them much of a threat,” he wrote.
“Warning: If any of these vessels approach our BLOCKADE, they will be ELIMINATED immediately, using the same elimination system we use against drug traffickers on ships on the high seas.”
How does a lock work in practice?
The 2022 U.S. Navy Commander’s Manual on the Law of Naval Operations defines a blockade as a “belligerent operation intended to prevent ships and/or aircraft of all States, both enemy and neutral, from entering or leaving specified ports, airfields, or coastal areas belonging to, occupied by, or under the control of an enemy State.”
Trump initially said the US Navy would begin the process of blocking the strait “effective immediately.”
Later on Sunday, he told US broadcaster Fox Recordsdata that the blockade “will take a while, but it will be effective very soon,” describing it as an “all or nothing” policy.
