US expected to start naval blockade of Iranian ports after deadline passes | US-Israel war on Iran
The US blockade of ships using Iranian ports in the Gulf was to come into effect on Monday evening, turning the six-week conflict between the US-Israel coalition and Iran into an economic endurance test.
US Central Command (Centcom) did not make an official statement about the start of the blockade, but stated that it would come into force at 17.30 Iranian time (15.00 UK time) on Monday and would apply to all ships entering or leaving Iranian ports or coastal areas, while ships using ports outside Iran would not be blocked.
Donald Trump claimed that 34 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Gulf, on Sunday, but there was no evidence to support the claim. Speaking to reporters at the White House, the president also claimed: “We were called by the other side” and that he “very much wanted to make a deal.”
Throughout the conflict, which began with a US-Israeli attack on February 28, Trump has made frequent claims that Tehran was in direct contact and was desperate to reach an agreement, but none of these claims were ever proven.
Iran has warned that ordinary Americans will pay the price for Donald Trump’s latest move in the form of higher oil prices, and has also promised that the Tehran regime will be ready to retaliate if the United States returns to bombing. Trump, on the other hand, said that Iranian attack boats approaching the US fleet in the region would be “immediately eliminated”.
On Monday, it was revealed that US naval forces will try to enforce a blockade in the Gulf of Oman, east of the Strait of Hormuz, beyond easy missile and drone range of Iran. It remains unclear how Centcom plans to stop any oil tankers attempting to breach the blockade. A missile strike could cause an environmental disaster and open up the possibility that U.S. forces could board and seize control of any ship that does not comply with U.S. instructions.
UK Merchant Marine Operations has issued advice for seafarers to “maintain high situational awareness” pending updates detailing how they are expected to navigate new conditions in the region.
Trump issued a warning that any Iranian “fast attack craft” would be “immediately eliminated” if they approached US ships enforcing the blockade; He killed at least 168 people he claimed were involved in drug trafficking, without evidence, with “the same killing system” that the US used when sinking nearly 50 small boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Trump ordered the blockade after 21 hours of talks between the USA and Iran in Islamabad, which ended without an agreement.
The tactic aims to strangle Iran’s economy, which is heavily dependent on oil, and force Tehran to meet US demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ships from the ports of its Gulf allies and agree to a complete ban on uranium enrichment.
Miad Maleki, a former US treasury official who now works at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in X that the US naval blockade It will cost Iran loss of approximately $276 million per day in exports and disruption in imports of $159 million per day; This means a total economic loss of $13 billion per month.
The Iranian regime has insisted that it still has effective control over the Strait of Hormuz and can determine which ships will be allowed through, noting that a US blockade would lead to higher oil prices, which have risen to over $100 a barrel since the diplomatic meltdown in Islamabad.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also heads his country’s delegation in Islamabad, mocked Washington for historic US political sensitivity on oil prices by telling Americans to “enjoy the current pump numbers” in a post on X on Sunday.
“With the so-called ‘blockade’ you will soon experience the nostalgia of $4-5 gasoline,” Ghalibaf added. The current average price of oil in the United States has risen from $2.98 to $4.13 per gallon before the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28.
The president acknowledged Sunday that oil prices could be the same or higher than they are now when the country votes in congressional elections, telling Fox News that prices “might go up a little bit more.”
The Iranian Embassy in Thailand issued a statement. fake election poster On Monday, a banner reading “Trump: $20.28 a gallon” read “Are you ready, folks?” The question is included.
On Monday, Iran became involved in Trump’s ongoing discussion with Pope Leo XIV over the conflict.
The US president had reacted angrily to the US-born pope’s criticism of his use of religious language to justify the administration’s war in Iran. Trump called him “weak on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy” and posted an image of himself as an AI-generated Jesus-like figure caring for the sick; this image was widely condemned as blasphemous. On Monday, Trump claimed that the image — in red and white robes and flashing lights from his hands — was intended to portray him as a “doctor.”
Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian spoke out Monday against what he called “disrespect for Jesus.”
“On behalf of the great nation of Iran, I condemn the insult to His Excellency and declare that the disrespect shown to Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood, is unacceptable to any free person.”
The pope told reporters on Monday that he had “no intention of quarreling” with Trump over Iran, adding that he would “continue to speak out against war, to promote peace, to encourage dialogue between states and multilateral relations to seek just solutions to problems.”
US-Israeli bombing of Iran has been halted as part of a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan that began on Wednesday. Trump said US forces remain “locked and loaded” and are ready to “finish what little is left of Iran.”
Iran has also said it is ready to return to war. Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said on Monday that “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea will be safe” if Iranian ports are threatened.
Despite Trump’s claims that other countries would help enforce the US blockade, none came forward. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was adamant that his country did not support the blockade and “we will not be dragged into war”.
Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and Greece refused to send naval forces to support the blockade. French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would hold a conference with Britain and other countries to set up a multinational mission to restore navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, but made clear this would come after the conflict.
“This purely defensive mission, different from fighters, will be deployed as soon as the situation allows,” Macron told X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is of “very great” importance.
