U.S. Central Command said it would reimpose a naval blockade of maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports starting Tuesday afternoon, after the U.S. military renewed strikes against the country in a bid to free up shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a July 13 statement, Central Command said that its forces will resume a blockade starting on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, meaning that ships entering or exiting Iranian ports will be either redirected or disabled.
Shipping traffic to or from other countries in the Middle East will not be affected by the blockade, Central Command said, adding that it will lend support to “all vessels not violating the blockade.”
U.S. forces first imposed the blockade in mid-April following an initial ceasefire announcement from the Trump administration that stopped fighting between the United States and Iran that started in late February.
During that two-month-long blockade, which ended on June 18, U.S. forces redirected more than 140 ships that complied with the military’s directives. Nine ships deemed noncompliant were disabled, while more than 50 vessels that had humanitarian aid were allowed to pass through, it added.
Sailors in the region were warned by Central Command in its latest statement to monitor any notices to mariners and communicate with U.S. naval forces when operating in the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman. More information will be provided at a later time, the military added.
The announcement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said on July 13 that a blockade of Iran is back in play following the resumption of military strikes targeting the country.
Trump also said this week that Iranian officials have not adhered to points that were negotiated under an interim deal that was signed by Washington and Tehran last month to end hostilities, fully reopen the strait, end Iran’s nuclear program, and potentially allow for tens of billions of dollars in investment into the country.
The United States launched another round of strikes in a five-hour mission on Monday night, according to Central Command, which said that military sites and other targets were struck in Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas.
The mission, it said, will “further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping,” adding that its “forces employed precision munitions against Iranian coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities.”
The strikes served to build on days of attacks that were launched by both Iran and the United States over who may control shipping routes in the strait, a key waterway that allows for the passage of about a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas on a normal day. Iran retaliated again on Tuesday with attacks on Middle East allies of the United States.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that its forces launched attacks against U.S. assets in Jordan and Bahrain, according to state-run media outlet Press TV.
According to the broadcaster, an official with the IRGC, Mohammad Akrami-Nia, also told a public gathering that “the Strait of Hormuz will never be reopened through war, hostility, or acts of aggression by the United States”
“The only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is for the United States to respect the rights of the Iranian nation and comply with the provisions of the war-ending memorandum of understanding,” he said.
