Already, at least 15 naval ships including destroyers and an aircraft are now trying to enforce a chokehold ordered by President Donald Trump.
According to a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.
“At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, “There may be a mine out there somewhere,” that nobody knows about but them.”
Describing Iran’s posture as extortionist, Trump disclosed that he has instructed the navy “to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.
“We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL! Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country.”
But the Iranians have remained defiant as the situation escalates, insisting US warships change course to avoid consequences. Iran has also warned that it’s forces would attack US vessels found within Iranian waters.
Iran’s armed forces said a U.S. blockade of vessels entering or exiting Iranian ports would constitute an illegal “act of piracy.” If the country’s ports are threatened, “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will be safe,” it said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
The Islamic Republic won’t permit U.S. vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and its military will protect the country’s territorial waters, a spokesman for the Iranian armed forces said. The spokesman said the ports of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will be secure either “for everyone, or for no one.”
Despite recent engagements with Washington, NATO which believes the matter can be sorted out through diplomacy has refused to support the ongoing plan by the United States to forcefully blockade the Strait of Hormuz.
At home, Trump is facing severe criticisms from opinion leaders including angry Congressmen for going to war against Iran, with many saying the President is putting American soldiers in harm’s way.
“Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless” Trump said in his encounter with the media. But the trouble is, nobody seems to believe him.
The markets are reacting as tension mounts in the Persian Gulf following what is being read by military experts as the deliberate escalation of the conflict.
In the US, a gallon of fuel now sells for $4 with prices of commodities spiraling out of control as a result of the war.
The world holds its breathe as Iran staves off what it sees as the authoritarian posture of the United States while the Americans under Trump frame Iran’s toll collection in the Strait of Hormuz as “world extortion”
