The United States of America, USA’s blockade of Iran’s ports has begun, with President Donald Trump vowing that ships approaching US blockade will be “eliminated”.
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Also, Trump claimed to have “obliterated” 158 Iranian ships as part of the US blockade of Iranian shores. “Iran’s navy is laying at the bottom of the sea,” he wrote on social media platform Truth Social.
He said what they have not hit are Iran’s “fast attack ships”, because they are not considered “much of a threat” to the US blockade. He threatened to take down these ships using the same “system of kill” used against “drug dealers on 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 wrote – capitalising the words “blockade” and “eliminated”.
He added at the end: “P.S. 98.2% of drugs coming into the U.S. by ocean or sea have stopped! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Iran’s President
Meanwhile, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has condemned US president Donald Trump’s attack on Pope Leo XIV “on behalf of the great nation of Iran,” adding that the desecration of “Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood,” is not acceptable to “any free person”.
This comes after Trump launched an attack on Truth Social on the pope, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy”.
He added: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a country that was sending massive amounts of drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.”
Notice of blockade
Seafarers and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations had received notices warning that the blockade will apply to all vessel traffic, regardless of flag.
The UKMTO notice said that the transit passage through the strait to or from non-Iranian destinations should not be affected by these restrictions. But UKMTO warned that vessels attempting to do so were likely to encounter a military presence.