A scheduled U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waters started at 10 a.m. ET on April 13 amid a tenuous ceasefire between the United States and Iran, coming after talks in Pakistan fell through, according to a maritime trade group.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on April 13 that it has been informed that effective from 2 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time, or 10 a.m. ET, maritime access restrictions are being enforced, affecting Iranian ports and coastal areas, including locations along the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and Strait of Hormuz.
“Access restrictions apply without distinction to vessels of any flag engaging with Iranian ports, oil terminals, or coastal facilities,” UKMTO’s advisory states.
It states that “transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz to or from non-Iranian destinations is not reported to be impeded by these measures; however, vessels may encounter military presence, directed communications, or right-of-visit procedures during passage.”
The U.S. Central Command, the military force overseeing operations in the Middle East, said it would implement the blockade at 10 a.m., a decision confirmed by President Donald Trump on the evening of April 12.
According to the command, U.S. forces would start the blockade of ship traffic going to and from Iranian ports, with the blockade to be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.”
The U.S. Central Command said it would not direct the U.S. military to “impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.”
Speaking to reporters on the evening of April 12, Trump said on several occasions that the blockade would be imposed at 10 a.m. the following day, noting that “other nations” would be involved so that “Iran will not be able to sell oil, and that will be very effective.”
After the blockade went into effect, Trump said in an April 13 post on Truth Social that 34 ships have transited through the waterway, the highest figure since the conflict began.
Iranian officials on April 13 issued warnings about the blockade threat and have suggested that the country’s military would attack ports belonging to Gulf Arab states, as well as ports in the Sea of Oman.
Iran’s military has declared that the “security of ports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is either for all or for none,” a spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement through state-run news agency Tasnim News.
“Furthermore, given the continuation of enemy threats against the Iranian nation and the national security of our country even after the end of the war, the Islamic Republic of Iran will firmly implement a permanent mechanism to control the Strait of Hormuz,” the Iranian official also said.
But Trump issued a warning on April 13 that Iran’s force of small boats “will be immediately ELIMINATED” if those vessels approach the U.S. naval blockade. The United States would use the same system used against “drug dealers on boats” at sea, he said. He was referring to military strikes on suspected drug dealers in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean in recent months.
Since the war started on Feb. 28, Iran has effectively shut the strait to all vessels except its own, saying that passage would be permitted only under Iranian control and subject to a fee. Iran has attacked civilian ships in the region, including ships belonging to Gulf Arab states.
Last week, before a two-week ceasefire was announced, Trump warned that the United States would strike Iranian power plants and bridges in a bid to get the waterway reopened. With the uncertainty about the strait’s safety, oil and gas prices have surged worldwide: Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil hit about $100 per barrel again on the morning of April 13.
A U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance went to Pakistan over the weekend for hours of negotiations with top Iranian officials. They were the highest-level discussions between the two nations since Iran’s 1979 revolution that installed the current clerical regime in power. But the talks failed to produce a lasting agreement, Vance said.
Iran has brought new demands, including recognition of its control of the waterway, the lifting of sanctions, and the withdrawal of forces from U.S. military bases across the Middle East.
NATO Will Not Join Blockade
NATO allies, including the UK and France, said they would not take part in the blockade, stressing instead the need to reopen the waterway, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil normally passes.
“We’re not supporting the blockade,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the BBC.
“My decision has been very clearly that whatever the pressure, and there’s been some considerable pressure, we’re not getting dragged into the war,” he said.
France will set up a conference with the UK and other countries to create a multinational mission to aid with navigation in the strait, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in an April 13 post on X.
“This strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict, is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit,” he said.
The initiative announced by Macron aims to establish rules for safe passage and the coordination of military vessels to escort tankers, Starmer said in Parliament on April 13.
“Let me be very clear, this is about safeguarding shipping and supporting freedom of navigation once the conflict ends,” the British prime minister said. “Our shared aim here is a coordinated, independent, multinational plan.”
The strait should be reopened by diplomacy, said Hakan Fidan, foreign minister of Turkey—which is also a NATO member—on April 13. He noted that creating an international force to oversee it would be complicated and called on NATO to reset its ties with Trump at a summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July.
Trump initially said the United States would work with other countries to block ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, but the U.S. military later specified that the blockade would apply only to ships going to or from Iranian ports.
Ahead of the blockade, Trump criticized NATO on April 12 during remarks to reporters and indicated that the U.S. government would reexamine its relationship with the military alliance.
When reached for comment by email on April 13, a U.S. Department of War spokesperson referred The Epoch Times to the UKMTO notice to mariners.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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