The US naval and military forces have been imposing a blockade on maritime traffic at Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz since Monday, after the countries failed to reach a peace deal in Islamabad.
US President Donald Trump had warned that the US would sink any Iranian ship that came near the blockade.
The US Navy has about 15 ships, including an Aircraft carrier and 11 destroyers that could participate in the blockade, a US official told CNN.
However, it is unclear how each ship is participating,
Earlier reports showed that the vessels were dispersed across the Middle East region.
The ships include the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier, destroyers USS Bainbridge, USS Thomas Hudner, USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., USS Delbert D. Black, USS John Finn, USS Michael Murphy, USS Mitscher, USS Pinckney, USS Rafael Peralta, USS Spruance and USS Milius. Additionally the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group, made of the USS Tripoli, New Orleans and Rushmore are also in the region.
The US Central Command or CENTCOM said that the blockade would only affect the maritime traffic that enters and exits Iranian ports. Other vessels transiting the Strait would not be affected.
CENTCOM also said that all vessels entering or departing Iranian post including on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, would be affected.
Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King’s College London’s School of Security Studies, said that the US blockade would be a complicated, "high-risk" and legally contentious endeavour. The US would have to identify, track, hail, divert and maybe even board vessels linked to Iranian ports, all while “operating in one of the most crowded and politically sensitive waterways in the world,” he said.
The enforcement would rely on a mix of naval patrols, surveillance, maritime warnings, allied intelligence and selective interdiction. Krieg also said that the blockade could even involve the boarding of ships, as was seen in Venezuela. At least 2 tankers have diverted from the Strait after the US announced its blockading.
CENTCOM Adm. Brad Cooper said that US forces have also begun efforts to clear Iranian mines from the Strait and that they are “establishing a new passage” that would be shared “with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, have warned that the any military vehicle attempting to approach the Strait would be considered as violating the two-week ceasefire deal.
They said that the US blockade would be amounted to piracy.
China, which imports a third of its oil from Iran through the Strait, said on Monday that the blockade of the Strait of Hormus “is not in the common interest of the international community."
The announcement of the blockade also sent oil prices soaring to above $100 a barrel on Monday.