The US naval blockade on all traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports started at 8:00 pm Monday (Dhaka time), after weekend peace talks in Pakistan faltered, Agencies reported.
It would apply to all vessels headed for Iranian ports and those intending to pay Iran a “toll” to transit the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said that humanitarian shipments such as food and medical supplies would be allowed, subject to inspection.
Maintaining, its defiant tone, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said military vessels from “any nation” coming close to the Strait of Hormuz will be “dealt with severely.”
Iran's military has warned that any threat to the country's ports would trigger a broader regional response, declaring that no port in the Persian Gulf or the Sea of Oman would remain secure if Iranian ports are targeted.
Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari said in a statement on Monday that ensuring security in the two strategic water bodies is a collective matter, emphasizing that such security must either apply to all parties or to none.
Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump issued a new threat to Iran Monday morning, saying the US will sink any Iranian ships that come near the US blockade on Iranian ports.
He claimed that while Iran’s navy has been “completely obliterated,” the US has not sunk its “fast attack ships,” warning that if they come near the blockade, the US Navy would deploy the same tactics used against alleged drug boats.
“Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea. It is quick and brutal,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
bd-pratidin/GR