The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has ordered a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of negotiations with Iran held over the weekend in Islamabad. The measure, announced via the social network Truth Social, represents a significant escalation in tensions between both countries and has direct implications for international maritime traffic in one of the world's most important trade routes, through which approximately one third of the oil transported by sea globally passes.
The talks, facilitated by Pakistan, extended over more than 21 hours before breaking down without agreement. The American negotiators and Trump himself attributed the failure to Iran's refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions, while Iranian representatives accused Washington of making "maximalist demands" and acting in bad faith during the negotiations.
After the breakdown of dialogue, Trump announced that the United States Navy would begin implementing the blockade "immediately" and ordered the interception of vessels. In his statements, the American president claimed that his country would "intercept any vessel in international waters" that had paid tolls to Iran, labeling such payments as "illegal extortion." Trump also warned that American forces would proceed to remove naval mines deployed in the waterway and that any attack against U.S. forces or commercial maritime transport would be met with "overwhelming military force."
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the announcement and specified that the blockade would take effect starting at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Monday. According to CENTCOM's statement, the measure will be enforced "impartially against vessels from all nations entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman." The U.S. military command clarified that its forces would "not impede the freedom of navigation of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz with origins or destinations in non-Iranian ports."
For its part, the Iranian Armed Forces responded by labeling the imposition of restrictions on vessel movement in international waters as "an illegal act equivalent to piracy," according to Al Jazeera.
In parallel with the announcement of the blockade, Iran communicated that during a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be allowed through coordination with its Armed Forces and considering what it described as "technical limitations." The Iranian insistence on authorizing transits beforehand appears to be linked both to its willingness to control passage through the strait and the possible presence of naval mines believed to have been deployed during the escalation of the conflict following the bombings of February 28 carried out by the United States and Israel.
Despite the tense situation, dozens of vessels, predominantly oil tankers and bulk carriers, have continued to make a limited number of transits through the Strait of Hormuz. According to Reuters, the supertankers Serifos, registered under the Liberian flag, and those under the Chinese flag Cospearl Lake and He Rong Hai entered and exited the test anchorage area of the Strait of Hormuz, bordering the Iranian island of Larak, according to maritime tracking data cited by LSEG. Each of these VLCCs has the capacity to carry around two million barrels of crude. The recorded transits are dominated by vessels owned by China.
In this context, the U.S. military has initiated operations to establish the necessary conditions for the demining of the strait. CENTCOM reported on April 11 that two missile destroyers from the Navy conducted operations in the waterway as part of a broader effort to ensure maritime access. The destroyers USS Frank E. Peterson (DDG 121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) transited the Strait of Hormuz and operated in the Arabian Gulf with the aim of ensuring that the waterway is completely free of mines laid by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, noted that U.S. forces had begun "the process of establishing a new passage" and would share "this safe route with the maritime industry soon to facilitate the free flow of trade."
The situation in the Strait of Hormuz generates uncertainty in energy markets and in the international maritime transport sector, given the volume of crude oil and liquefied natural gas that transits daily through this strategic waterway.