00:00The U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz could carry massive implications as it seeks
00:05to prevent ships from entering or exiting all of Iran's ports.
00:09Following failed peace talks in Islamabad on April 11th, President Trump vowed to carry
00:14on the blockade as a means to strangle Iran's already weakened economy.
00:18But who does the blockade target, how will the U.S. actually enforce it, and what are
00:23the potential impacts?
00:24Here's what to know.
00:26On Sunday, April 12th, President Trump announced that the U.S. would begin a sweeping blockade
00:30of the Strait of Hormuz, with Trump vowing to fight back against Iran's quote, world extortion
00:36and ensure that no one paying tolls to the regime will get through the critical oil choke point.
00:41Since the ceasefire, Iran has attempted to charge a toll of $1 per barrel of oil for ships to
00:47get through the strait safely, previously using drones and missiles to deter oil vessels from
00:52traveling through the critical choke point.
00:54As peace talks were ongoing on April 11th, Trump ordered two U.S. Navy destroyers, the
01:00USS Frank E. Peterson Jr. and the USS Michael Murphy, to force their way through in transit
01:05the Strait of Hormuz.
01:07The blockade began at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, April 13th, blocking ships from
01:12entering Iran's ports, while giving neutral ships already there a grace period to quickly
01:17exit them.
01:18The tactic is essentially now targeting Tehran's Shadow Fleet, a network of oil tankers using
01:24deceptive practices to secretly export Iranian oil and defy U.S. sanctions.
01:30President Trump threatened that any Iranian ships that come anywhere close to the blockade
01:34would be immediately eliminated.
01:36But U.S. officials have remained mum on exactly how the blockade will be enforced.
01:41In times of war, nations can exercise their international right to visit and search, or stop and inspect
01:47ships and grant or halt their passage, professor of international maritime law James Kraska told
01:53the New York Times.
01:54This would look less like a clean historical blockade and more like a messy, high-risk interdiction regime,
02:00Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King's College London, told NBC News.
02:05Following the blockade, CENTCOM wrote in a statement posted on X,
02:09During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade and six merchant vessels
02:15complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of
02:20Oman.
02:21However, shipping data showed the blockade had made little difference to the Strait of Hormuz
02:25traffic on April 14th, with at least eight ships crossing the waterway.
02:30At least four Iran-linked ships, including a Chinese tanker, were seen transiting the
02:35strait nearly 24 hours after the block went into effect, tracking data shows.
02:40Whether or not the U.S. will be taking any immediate action to enforce Trump's blockade remains to be seen.
02:46The Islamic Republic, for its part, has compared the blockade to piracy,
02:50and has repeatedly warned of retaliation against the U.S. and Gulf nations if its naval traffic is impaired.
02:57The blockade could also hurt the Islamic Republic's already struggling economy,
03:00as it had been allowed to export its oil to limit the pressure on energy prices around the world
03:05over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
03:08However, the tactic could also serve as a double-edged sword,
03:11as a complete shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz will likely exasperate global oil prices.
03:16According to President Trump, additional U.S.-Iran peace talks could be happening
03:21over the next two days in Pakistan's capital, he told the Post.
03:24History of the Post
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