Washington: US military forces continue to enforce “US sanctions and fully implement the blockade against ships entering or departing Iranian ports,” US Central Command said on social media.
In a post on X, the US Central Command said that 37 vessels have been redirected since the start of the blockade, noting a merchant vessel named Sevan, intercepted in the Arabian Sea earlier Saturday by the US forces, is currently “complying with US military direction to turn back to Iran under escort.”
US President Donald Trump announced on April 12 that the US Navy would begin blocking ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz. His decision came after the first round of US-Iranian talks on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to produce a peace deal.
In response to Trump’s announcement, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that “any threat against the security of the Strait of Hormuz will have large-scale consequences for global trade.”
On Saturday, Iran’s main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, reiterated its pledge to react if the United States continues its “blockade, banditry and piracy” in the West Asia region, Xinhua news agency reported.
Trump announced earlier Saturday that he has canceled the trip of US representatives going to Islamabad this weekend for talks with the Iranian side.
In his short post on Truth Social, Trump did not make any fresh threats against Iran, but said, “We have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call”!!
“Too much time wasted on travelling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership’,” he said.
The split in Iran’s leadership, between moderates and hardliners, came to the fore last week when Araghchi, considered a moderate, declared on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was open, only to have the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reinstate it on Saturday.
After attempts at restarting the stalled negotiations in Islamabad last weekend and earlier this week failed, Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely, but kept the Naval blockade of Iranian ports.
(IANS)
