After days of exchanges of fire in the Persian Gulf between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the U.S. military, the renewed blockade of Iranian ports announced Monday by U.S. President Donald Trump is set to take effect Tuesday at 11 p.m. local time.
Less than an hour before the blockade was set to resume, Iran reported explosions in Ahvaz in the country’s southwest. Earlier, a U.S. official confirmed that a series of military targets in Iran had been attacked in order to “destroy emerging threats.” Iran reported hits on Qeshm and Kish islands in the Gulf, saying a power station was struck on Kish, along with explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas. At the same time, Kuwait and Bahrain said they had dealt with launches from Iran.
Bahrain did not provide further details, but Kuwait said it had intercepted a ballistic missile, five cruise missiles and 33 drones. The Kuwaiti military said Iran had attacked significant civilian infrastructure and that interceptor fragments that struck some locations caused property damage. It also said four navy soldiers were wounded in an attack targeting a naval vessel.
US attack on Kish Island
(Photo: Social media/via Reuters)
U.S. Central Command said that at 10 p.m. its forces launched another wave of strikes against Iran in order “to continue degrading Iran’s capabilities used to attack commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.” It said “the strikes are being carried out as U.S. forces prepare for the renewal of the naval blockade on Iranian ports and coastal areas, which will take effect at 11 p.m.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, claimed earlier that Tehran “currently has no obligations regarding the memorandum of understanding, including with regard to the Strait of Hormuz.”
“No agreement was reached on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with Oman,” he said. “The main framework of the understanding was ending the war against Iran and other fronts — something that was violated on Iranian soil and in Lebanon. If the Americans think they can force us to negotiate by imposing a blockade, they are mistaken. Opening the route on Oman’s coast was wrong. The Americans exerted significant pressure to keep the Omani route open.”
Trump on Iran
At the same time, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the escalation in the Gulf on X, writing: “Throughout history, southern Iran has always been a symbol of resistance to colonialism and of safeguarding independence. Today, the people of this land, with patience, perseverance and determination, are facing these difficult days with dignity because of the enemy’s aggression.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed they had “destroyed several weapons depots and parts of enemy ships and aircraft at the Sheikh Isa base in Bahrain.”
“Our fighters also destroyed or damaged several drones by attacking the platform where MQ-9 drones were deployed at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait,” the Revolutionary Guards said. “These strikes came in response to the U.S. military attacks today, in which it struck military coastal sites. The response will continue as long as the crimes of the United States continue, and if the attacks are repeated, the response will be severe.”
On Monday night, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that “The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait."
He also announced a 20% fee on passage through the strait, which he has since canceled. “The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World. The process and formation will begin immediately,” he wrote Monday.
In another post Tuesday, he reversed course: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.”
"Oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome Power of the United States Military,” Trump wrote. “The Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION.”
"Therefore, we will impose a full blockade, but only on ships arriving at or departing from Iranian ports, or carrying any cargo connected to Iran,” he added.