During the first 24 hours of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, American warships issued warnings to six vessels, a U.S. official said Tuesday. None of the encounters involved gunfire, and U.S. personnel did not board any of the ships before they reversed course.
Five of the vessels were carrying oil, according to the official. The contents of the sixth ship was not immediately clear, though what was clear—at least from the U.S. side—was the pressure being applied right at the edges of the route.
Two of the oil-carrying ships turned back in the first two hours after the blockade went into effect on Monday morning. The blockade itself was announced a day earlier by President Donald Trump after negotiations with the Iranians failed to produce an agreement to end the war. Since fighting began in late Friday, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been at a near-standstill, and that has helped push up the prices of oil and other key goods.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, is using more than 100 U.S. fighter and surveillance aircraft to enforce the blockade, along with more than a dozen ships. The official said the United States is stopping vessels as they enter the Gulf of Oman after they go through the Strait of Hormuz. There are more than a dozen ships in the Gulf of Oman, the official added, and it does not make sense to move them to the Persian Gulf where they risk being in more danger.
Instead of chasing ships across a wider area, the plan as described is to lean on surveillance aircraft, manned aircraft and sea-based surveillance systems like radars. They can identify vessels that are leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas, then communicate with them over radio to let them know they are violating the blockade and need to turn around after they transit the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military directs the ships to go back to Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman, rather than back through the Strait of Hormuz—partly because it says it has more options and assets in the Gulf of Oman to enforce the blockade.
So far, no ships have refused, the official said, but the U.S. still has “full authority” to use force if that changes. That includes using fighter aircraft or ships to fire on the vessels, if necessary. The official also said they do not know whether ships that have already transited and continued along—like the Chinese tanker, the Rich Starry—have paid a toll to the Iranians.
One detail kept returning, almost like a marker on the map. The official reiterated that the Starry was not in violation of the U.S. terms of the blockade because it originated in the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. military did not order it to turn around. Even with all the radio warnings and turning points, that distinction matters, and it’s the kind of thing that can get messy later—when the same route is tested again. Out on deck, if you’re standing there with that salty wind in your face, you can almost imagine the silence before a captain decides to obey.
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