U.S. military reimposes blockade on Iranian ports amid escalating tensions
The U.S. military early Wednesday reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports over Tehran’s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, sparking new strikes on nations hosting American forces as an interim deal to end the war further unraveled, reports BritPanorama.
Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran — and both nations’ attempts to assert control of the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime — threaten to push the region back to all-out war.
In Iran, more than 260 people were wounded in this round of overnight strikes alone, according to the Health Ministry, suggesting an intensification in the bombing.
The U.S. first imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear program, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has intensified.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade. “The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.
When President Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade Monday, he also said he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. However, he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade, citing requests from allies in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. carried out another wave of strikes as it reimposed the blockade, striking dozens of targets over seven hours, the U.S. military’s Central Command said Wednesday.
Missile alert warnings went out in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday morning as they faced incoming Iranian fire, something that’s been a daily occurrence, further straining a ceasefire in the war. Jordan also reported it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, stated that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries. “U.S. forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” Cooper said.
Trump told Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more U.S. strikes against Iran were forthcoming in the next two days, mentioning that bridges and power plants could be targets by next week unless negotiations resume. Already, the U.S. has struck at least one bridge.
“There better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,” Trump warned.
At least 19 U.S. warships are currently in the Arabian Sea, including two aircraft carriers and an amphibious assault ship with more than 1,000 Marines aboard. Central Command also indicated that hundreds of military aircraft are operating across the Middle East.
When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively shut the passage by attacking and threatening ships, which sent the price of oil, fertilizer, and other goods soaring.
Iran has more recently attacked ships moving through the strait on a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control, setting off the recent violence. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts suggest that would require a significantly larger military presence, possibly tens of thousands of ground troops.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized America’s ongoing attacks targeting his country. “The U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim,” he stated in a message to the world body’s leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Trump noted on Tuesday that he was contacted by the region’s “kings and emirs,” who proposed an alternate arrangement to charging ships fees to pass through the strait like the president had suggested the day before. “They said we’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
He expressed a preference for this arrangement over charging tolls, stating, “I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait.”
It remains unclear whether the proposed investment deals represent new commitments relative to previous arrangements announced after Trump’s visit to the Middle East last year.
Trump’s plan to charge tolls would have marked a departure from longstanding American policy of ensuring the strait remains open to all without fees.
U.S. Central Command reported striking several areas in Iran earlier Tuesday; Tehran has acknowledged the strikes but has not provided comprehensive casualty or damage assessments.
Hours after the U.S. concluded its strikes, the Iranian city of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf was reportedly hit in at least four locations, with explosions also reported in the southwestern city of Ahvaz and the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, according to Iranian state media.
The attacks again raised the possibility that Gulf Arab states might be retaliating against Iran discreetly, without public acknowledgment.
Kuwait also reported that an Iranian attack wounded four members of its navy on Tuesday and set a building ablaze.
Under the interim deal, Iran had agreed that passage through the strait would remain free of charge for 60 days, but the agreement left open what would happen after. Iran asserts its right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees, a claim the U.S. disputes.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly topped $87 early Tuesday, still significantly below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict. Following Trump’s announcement that he was altering his course, the price dipped to $78.
Meanwhile, regional mediators are still working to facilitate renewed negotiations between the United States and Iran.
