At 4:00 PM Italian time, Donald Trump's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz went into effect. "Be warned, if any of these ships come close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated, using the same extermination system we use against drug traffickers on vessels at sea. It's swift and brutal." The aim of the blockade is to prohibit transit into and out of the Strait , which is under Iranian control.
"The Iranian Navy," Trump added, "is lying on the seabed, completely destroyed: 158 ships. We didn't hit their small number of what they call fast attack ships, because we didn't consider them a major threat."
More than 15 American ships are conducting the operation, the WSJ reports, citing a US official, who said the United States can count on guided-missile destroyers and several warships capable of launching helicopters in the Middle East to support boarding operations.
Great Britain is not participating in the blockade, as Trump had initially announced: the BBC first reported it, then confirmed by Prime Minister Starmer. European countries, China, Russia, the Gulf countries, and the UN condemn the US president's decision, which is supported only by Benjamin Netanyahu .
The IRGC, for its part, warned that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and that any threat to the country's ports would trigger a broader regional response. "No port in the Persian Gulf or the Sea of Oman would remain safe if Iranian ports were targeted," warned Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesman for the headquarters of the Khatam al-Anbiya Unified Command. The Iranian Armed Forces, he continued, "consider the defense of the country's national rights a natural and legitimate obligation, including the exercise of sovereignty in the country's territorial waters." "Enemy-affiliated vessels do not have and will not have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz," he said. "Other vessels will be authorized to transit the strait in accordance with the regulations of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he clarified.
