The US military began its blockade of all Iranian ports and coastal areas on Monday after President Donald Trump earlier announced the move in an attempt to pressure Iran to sign a deal with Washington. Iranian military has said the American blockade would be “illegal” and “amounts to piracy.”
Iran, meanwhile, has announced a threat on all ports surrounding the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. According to Tehran’s IRIB, “Security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is either for everyone or for no one.” The Iranian military earlier said, “No port in the region will be safe.”
The US Central Command had earlier announced that the blockade would begin on Monday at 7:30pm IST in Iran and 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 (Persian Gulf) and Gulf of Oman.”
The Centcom further added that it’ll allow ships which are travelling between non-Iranian ports to cross the strait, which is a step away from President Trump’s earlier threat to blockade the entire Strait of Hormuz.
After Trump announced to cease the Hormuz from Monday, it paused the limited ship traffic which was ongoing in the strait since the ceasefire was announced between US-Israel and Iran on April 8, AP reported quoting Lloyd’s List intelligence report.
The AP report added that marin trackers have said 40 commercial ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the ceasefire, which has plunged from around 100 to 135 ships on a daily basis before the war.
The move by the American military comes after US-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan failed to come up with an agreement on Saturday.
Vice president JD Vance, who was leading the US delegation, said that the talks fell short after Iran refused to accept American terms of refraining from developing a nuclear weapon.
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Iran calls US blockade ‘illegal’
The Iranian military on Monday said that if the security of Tehran’s ports in Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea is “threatened” then “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe.”
“The restrictions imposed by criminal America on maritime navigation and transit in international waters are illegal and constitute an example of piracy,” the Iranian military said in a statement, Al Jazeera reported.
NATO allies refuse to join Trump’s Hormuz blockade
The United States’ NATO allies, including the UK and France, have said that they would not get involved in President Trump’s plan to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, further soaring the tensions within the increasingly fragile western military alliance.
“We’re not supporting the blockade. My decision has been very clearly that whatever the pressure, and there’s been some considerable pressure, we’re not getting dragged into the war,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
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