Hostilities are set to resume as the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz takes effect Monday morning, following the collapse of weekend talks in Pakistan.
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports will begin on Monday at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time.
The blockade only applies to ships and tankers leaving Iranian ports, Reuters reported Monday:
U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces would begin implementing the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) on Monday.It would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” it said in a statement on X.U.S. forces would not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports, and additional information would be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice prior to the start of the blockade, it said.
As the blockade comes into effect, President Trump reminded the regime that its “Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated – 158 ships.”
He warned the existing Iranian naval force to stay clear of the U.S. Navy operating in the strait or risk obliteration.
“What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, “fast attack ships,” because we did not consider them much of a threat, ” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea.”
The move is set to end Iran’s energy blackmail, extorting money from countries trying to get their oil tankers through the waterway. Around 20% of the world’s oil supplies passed through the maritime chokepoint before the war.
Despite six weeks of intense U.S. military operations, the Iranian regime appears to be questioning President Trump’s resolve to enforce the blockade. “President Trump’s threat to block the Strait of Hormuz is ‘more bluffing than reality,” a spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission said, CBS News reported. Ebrahim Rezaei warned that Tehran was prepared to respond if the situation escalates militarily.”
Update: Reports on Monday evening indicate that a China-bound tanker carrying Iranian oil has been turned back, suggesting that the U.S. blockade is having an effect.
Europe’s leading powers will not be getting their hands dirty by joining the U.S. naval mission; instead, the U.K. and France will be co-hosting a conference to deliberate on the issue.
Meanwhile, German state media is speculating whether the Bundeswehr—the country’s armed forces—would even be capable of carrying out a maritime mission, given its current dilapidated state.
“The UK will not be involved in enforcing the US military blockade of Iran, Sir Keir Starmer has said,” the BBC reported Monday. “Sir Keir, who has recently returned from a visit to the Gulf region, said he had been working with allies to “keep the Strait open, not shut”.”
According to public broadcaster France24, “France and Britain will co-host a summit this week aimed at establishing a “peaceful multinational mission” to restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday, stressing that the mission would be “separate from the warring parties”.”
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