Iran’s small vessels may be able to challenge US blockade operations, Chinese analysts suggest, despite the heavy losses suffered by the Iranian navy during the opening weeks of the US-Israeli offensive.
The United States launched a naval blockade on Monday targeting Iranian maritime trade, after peace talks in Pakistan failed over the weekend.
US Central Command (Centcom) issued a formal notice on Sunday announcing that its forces would block “all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports” from 10am Washington time on April 13, citing a declaration by President Donald Trump hours earlier.
Advertisement
Centcom said the interceptions would not affect all maritime traffic. According to the notice: “Centcom forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the blockade had been “fully implemented”. Eight oil tankers had obeyed “direction from US forces to reverse course”, it said, citing a US official.
Advertisement
While Iran has sharply condemned the blockade, it has refrained from a direct military response. The two-week US-Iran ceasefire agreement reached on April 7 appears to be holding despite the collapsed talks.
