The United States is set to launch an international coalition to restart shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, an official confirmed on Thursday, as the vital waterway remains largely cut off amid stalled talks with Iran.
The “Maritime Freedom Construct” (MFC) will “take steps to ensure safe passage, including providing real-time information, safety guidance, and coordination to ensure vessels can transit these waters securely,” a State Department official told the AFP news agency.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was responding to questions about a reported diplomatic cable calling on US embassies to press foreign governments to join such an effort.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the MFC will be a joint effort between the State Department and US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military forces in the Middle East, according to the cable.
“The States-led component, based in Washington, will serve as the diplomatic operations hub, uniting partners and the commercial shipping industry,” the official told AFP.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly lashed out at allies over their reluctance to get involved in the war, while urging at various times for oil-reliant nations to take responsibility for opening the Strait of Hormuz.
The report however insisted that collective action was “essential to demonstrate unified resolve and impose meaningful costs on Iranian obstruction of transit through the Strait.”
“Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy,” the cable reportedly said, describing the MCF as a “US-led” initiative.
The UK and France have led talks on a separate maritime effort, recently holding a meeting with over 50 countries on the issue.
The Strait of Hormuz has become a major flashpoint since the outbreak of the war, with Iran allowing only a trickle of ships to pass through the waterway.
Iran effectively closed the crucial waterway when the war broke out on 28 February. Normally one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transits the waterway. Its closure has sent energy prices skyrocketing around the world.
On 13 April, the US Navy imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports which US Central Command said would apply to “the entirety of the Iranian coastline.”
Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had said a US naval blockade imposed in retaliation against Iran’s action in Hormuz was “doomed to fail.”
Pezeshkian added that such measures would “not only fail to enhance regional security, but are in fact a source of tension and a disruption to lasting stability in the Persian Gulf.”
Benchmark Brent crude for June delivery reached as much as $126 (€107) a barrel in trading on Thursday, the highest intraday level since 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
‘Disgraceful defeat’
Meanwhile, Iran’s Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei allegedly said in a written message on Thursday that the United States had been defeated in the war, as the Iranian leadership defied Trump’s warnings of a prolonged blockade of its ports.
“Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” Khamenei is said to have written in the message read on state television.
The message by Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since his appointment on 9 March as Iran’s new ayatollah, came on the annual national celebration of “Persian Gulf” day.
He was selected as the new leader of the Islamic Republic after the US and Israel launched a massive campaign of strikes on Iran on 28 February, killing his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei.
Last week, the New York Times citing several unnamed Iranian officials said the younger Khamenei was “gravely wounded” in the strikes but has remained “mentally sharp”.
In his Thursday message, he said US bases in the region “lack even the capacity to ensure their own security, let alone provide any hope of securing their allies.”
He hailed what he called Iran’s “new legal framework and management” of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key energy chokepoint, as a means to bring “comfort and progress” for countries in the region.
Trump warned on Wednesday that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports could last months, leading oil prices to spike to their highest level in more than four years.