The U.S. Navy has been ordered to gun down any speedboats suspected of laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz during the ceasefire; it will also continue its blockade of Iranian ports “for as long as it takes,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday.
U.S. Central Command announced on Friday that the carriers Abraham Lincoln, Gerald R. Ford, and George H.W. Bush are all in the Middle East, the first time in decades that three have operated in the region. Hegseth said during the Pentagon press briefing that as the number of warships participating in the blockade grows, the U.S.was “not anxious for a deal” and its military had “all the time in the world” as the war extended into its 55th day.
“But with this blockade, the clock is not on their side,” the secretary said. “Moreover, President Trump has authorized the United States Navy to destroy any Iranian fast boats that attempt to put mines in the water or disrupt passage through the Strait of Hormuz, to shoot and kill.”
Hegseth declined to say when the blockade would end. He said the operation would continue for “as long as it takes,” just as Trump has indefinitely extended the ceasefire with Iran until they submit a new proposal for negotiations. Since the blockade began last week, the U.S. has turned around 34 ships, and interdicted at least three vessels.
“Transit is occurring, but more limited than anybody would like to see, and with more risk than people would like to see, but that’s because Iran is doing irresponsible things with small, fast boats,” Hegseth said. “This is a real full blockade. We’ll use up to and including lethal force if necessary.”
Hegseth also took a dig at allies and said the war in Iran—which was started by the United States and Israel—“should not be America’s fight alone.”
“We are not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do, and might want to start doing less, talking, having less fancy conferences in Europe and get in a boat,” Hegseth said. “This is much more their fight than ours.”
Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs chairman, told reporters that the U.S. military had used force against three vessels that were using deceptive shipping methods.
On Sunday, U.S. Marines boarded the Touska, a 965-foot Iranian container ship, after the crew failed to heed the U.S. Navy’s warning shots. A destroyer fired nine rounds from its Mark 45 surface guns into the ship’s engine room and it was subsequently boarded. The crew and vessel remain in U.S. custody, Caine said.
The next day, a Navy control team took over a tanker, the Botswana-controlled and aircraft carrier-sized Tifani, in the Indian Ocean at the request of the Justice Department, Caine said. It was carrying sanctioned Iranian oil, he said.
Another ship, a very large crude carrier known as Majestic X, was interdicted by U.S. forces in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday. The chairman did not disclose the cargo of that stateless ship, but said all the vessels and crews were in U.S. custody.
“We will continue to conduct similar maritime interdiction actions and activities in the Pacific and Indian Oceans against Iranian ships and vessels of the dark fleet,” Caine said.
The U.S. has used naval blockades against Cuba and Venezuela, but neither has had the desired effect, said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities. Cuba has not yet had a change in leadership and the covert military capture of former Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro ultimately led to regime change as opposed to the use of U.S. warships.
While Hegseth claims time is on the U.S. military’s side, Kavanagh disagrees.
“The costs for the United States and its allies (and the global economy) are higher than they are for Iran, and Iran’s stakes are much greater,” Kavanagh said in a message. “The blockade may put pressure on Iran over time, but it plays into Iran’s hands—extending the war and allowing the regime to survive. Coercion will not end the war or reopen the strait. The only exit strategy is through political compromise.”
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