The US naval blockade of Iran’s ports came into effect on Monday, with President Donald Trump warning that any attack ships would be “eliminated” if they attempted to break it.
The United States will prevent all shipping from entering or exiting Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz for "as long as it takes," US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, the fourth day of the blockade.
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Hegseth said the US navy is employing “less than 10% of America’s naval power” to enforce the blockade.
“The math is clear. We’re using 10% of the world’s most powerful navy and you have 0% of your Navy,” Hegseth said, referring to Iran’s naval capacity which the US has repeatedly said has been completely destroyed.
The US Navy currently has 16 warships, including 11 destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, an aircraft carrier, and a littoral combat ship in the Middle East out of a battle force of roughly 300 total warships.
"Let me be clear, this blockade applies to all ships, regardless of nationality, heading into or from Iranian ports," General Dan Caine, the top US military commander, said at the presser with Hegseth.
The US naval blockade of Iran’s ports came into effect on Monday, with President Donald Trump warning that any attack ships would be “eliminated” if they attempted 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 applied 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 US Vice President JD Vance left peace negotiations with an Iranian delegation in Islamabad over the weekend without a deal.
Traffic through the waterway, through which a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies transited before the war, has been almost completely blocked since the Iran war started with US-Israeli air strikes on 28 February.
That has sent energy prices spiking around the world, with the International Energy Agency chief warning on Thursday that Europe only has "maybe six weeks or so of jet fuel left," if supplies remain blocked.
"In the past there was a (music) group called Dire Straits. It's a dire strait now and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world," Fatih Birol said.
The impact will be "higher (gasoline) prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices," he added.