The Iranian military says US restrictions on maritime navigation and transit in international waters are illegal.
Published on 13 April 2026
The Iranian military says a naval blockade declared by the United States on ships in international waters would be illegal and amount to piracy, warning that no Gulf port would be safe if its own ports were threatened.
The US military said it would begin a blockade of all Iranian ports at 14:00 GMT on Monday after talks between the warring parties in Pakistan failed.
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President Donald Trump also announced on social media that the US would block the strategic Strait of Hormuz trade route, which he is demanding Tehran fully reopen.
An Iranian military statement on Monday said if Iran’s actions “threaten the security of ports in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe”.
“The sanctions imposed by the criminal US on maritime navigation and transit in international waters are illegal and an example of piracy,” the statement issued by the Iranian military’s central command center, Khatam al-Anbiya, said.
The failed weekend talks dashed hopes for a quick deal to permanently end the war, which has killed thousands of people and thrown the global economy into turmoil since it began in late February.
Despite the threats, the ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran that took effect last week gives no indication that there will be an immediate resumption of hostilities.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for global oil and gas shipments, has been heavily restricted since the beginning of the war, with Iran allowing only a few ships to service friendly countries such as China.
Oil prices, which had fallen because of the ceasefire, jumped nearly 8 percent on Monday, with both the key WTI and Brent contracts, which are benchmarks, rising above $100 a barrel.
US Central Command said the planned blockade would be enforced “impartially against ships of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.”
It said military forces would not disrupt ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz to non-Iranian ports.
In a lengthy social media post on Sunday, Trump said his goal was to clear the strait of mines and reopen it to all shipping, but that Iran should not be allowed to profit from controlling the waterway.
China, America’s allies condemned the move
China, Washington’s great rival and a major importer of Iranian oil, also criticized the US plan.
“The Strait of Hormuz is an important international trade route for goods and energy and maintaining its security, stability and unimpeded flow is in the common interest of the international community,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiaqun said, urging Iran and the US not to resume war.
Among Washington’s NATO allies, Trump has been heavily criticized for his reluctance to side with them in the war, with Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles saying the planned naval blockade “makes no sense”.
“This is just another episode in this whole fallout cycle that we’ve been dragged into,” he said.
In a BBC radio interview, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer said that Britain would not join the US blockade, and said that Britain was “not being dragged” into a US–Israel war over Iran.
