US deadline passes for blockade of Hormuz, Iran defiant
A deadline has passed for the United States to launch a military blockade of ships leaving Iranian ports after officials in Tehran threatened to retaliate against the ports of its Gulf neighbors after talks to end the war collapsed at the weekend.
Oil prices have soared with no sign of a rapid reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to ease the biggest-ever disruption to supply.
Since the war began on February 28, Iran has largely closed the strait to ships other than its own and has said passage will be allowed only under Iranian control and for a fee.
US President Donald Trump said US forces would block Iranian ships and all ships paying such tolls, and that any Iranian “fast attack” ships approaching the blockade would be eliminated.
US Central Command said the measure came into effect from 10am ET on Monday (midnight AEST on Tuesday).
NATO allies, including Britain and France, have said they would not be dragged into conflict by joining the blockade and instead stressed the need to reopen the waterway, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil normally passes.
The ceasefire, which halted six weeks of US and Israeli airstrikes, appeared to be in danger just a week before April 22.
The United States said Iran rejected its demands during weekend talks in Islamabad, the highest-level talks since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The US military’s regional Central Command said the blockade “will be enforced impartially against ships of all nations” entering or exiting Iranian ports in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
“The blockade will not prevent neutral transit through the Strait of Hormuz to or from destinations outside Iran,” Central Command said in a memo to sailors. he said.
According to LSEG data, two Iran-linked tankers, Aurora and New Future, loaded with oil products, left the strait before the deadline on Monday.
An Iranian military spokesman described any US restrictions on international shipping as “piracy” and warned that no port in the Gulf or Gulf of Oman would be safe if Iranian ports were threatened.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said any military ship approaching the strait would violate the ceasefire.
On Sunday, Trump stated on social media that ships paying “illegal transit fees” to Iran would not be granted safe passage and added: “Any Iranian who fires on us or peaceful ships will be THROWN TO HELL!”
Israel has continued to bomb pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon, and on Monday Israeli troops launched an offensive to capture a key town in southern Lebanon from the group.
While Israel and the United States said that the campaign against Hezbollah was not part of the ceasefire, Iran insisted.
While Iran ignores the demand to open the strait, it also brings new demands to the talks, such as recognition of its control over the waterway, removal of sanctions and withdrawal of forces from US military bases in the Middle East.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that efforts to resolve the dispute were still ongoing following direct talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad over the weekend.
Trump declared victory even though he appeared to have failed to achieve the goals he set at the beginning of the war: eliminating Iran’s ability to attack its neighbors, ending its nuclear program, and making it easier for Iranians to overthrow their government.
Iran maintains missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles capable of hitting its Gulf neighbors and maintains a stockpile of enriched uranium close to bomb-making levels.
Faced with a popular uprising at the beginning of the year, Iran’s leadership resisted the US offensive with no signs of organized opposition.
Emboldened, Iranian officials say they will make a deal only if the United States makes more concessions.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran faced U.S. “maximalism, shifting goalposts and blockade” in the talks.
“Zero lessons learned,” he added.
“Good will begets good will. Enmity begets hostility.”
