A US naval blockade of Iran’s ports has come into effect on Monday, with President Donald Trump warning that any attack ships will be “eliminated” if they attempt to break it.
“Iran’s navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated – 158 ships. 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,” Trump wrote in a post on his platform 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.”
US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the beginning of the blockade of all Iranian Gulf ports and coastal areas, and the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received warnings that the blockade applies to all vessel traffic, regardless of flag.
Trump announced on social media that he would blockade the strategic Strait of Hormuz trade route, which he had previously demanded Tehran fully reopen, after Vice President JD Vance left peace negotiations with an Iranian delegation in Islamabad over the weekend without a deal.
“Presumably, Trump’s intent is to try to starve Iran of export revenue and compel Iran’s main oil customers, particularly China, to pressure Tehran to end its blockage of the strait,” think tank The Soufan Centre said.
Despite the threats, there was no indication that there would be an immediate resumption of the war, which came to a halt with a ceasefire that took effect last week after engulfing the region in violence.
Oil prices, which had tumbled with the truce, jumped around 8% on Monday, with both key WTI and Brent contracts topping $100 (€85) a barrel.
The weekend’s failed talks dashed hopes of a swift deal to permanently end the war, which has killed thousands and thrown the global economy into turmoil since it began in late February.
Traffic through the strait, a key route for global oil and gas shipments, has been heavily restricted since the start of the war, with Iran allowing only some vessels serving friendly countries such as China to pass.
Uncertainty reigns
“The blockade will 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,” US Central Command said, adding it would begin at 3 pm CET on Monday.
US forces would not impede vessels transiting the strait to and from non-Iranian ports, it added.
In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said his goal was to clear the strait of mines and reopen it to all shipping, but that Iran must not be allowed to profit from controlling the waterway.
Nicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po’s Centre for International Research, said a US blockade was “not a minor coercive signal” but could rather be considered an effective resumption of the war.
Iran’s military command issued a statement branding the blockade a criminal act of piracy.
“If the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ports in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe,” it warned in a statement.
China, Washington’s great-power rival and a major importer of Iranian oil, also criticised the plan.
“The Strait of Hormuz is an important international trade route for goods and energy, and maintaining its security, stability, and unimpeded flow is in the common interest of the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said, urging Iran and the US not to reignite the war.
Among Washington’s NATO allies, much criticised by Trump for their reluctance to follow him to war, Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles said the planned naval blockade “makes no sense.”
“It’s one more episode in this whole downward spiral into which we’ve been dragged,” she said.
And in a BBC radio interview, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain will not join the blockade, adding the UK “is not getting dragged in” to the war.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that France and Britain would host a conference this week with countries prepared to join a “peaceful multinational mission” to secure the strait, but that it would be “strictly defensive” and operational only once circumstances permit.