U.S. Navy Enforces Full Blockade of Iranian Ports as Trump Says War ‘Close to Over’

The United States Navy has fully implemented a blockade of Iranian ports, CENTCOM announced on Wednesday as President Trump predicted that the war with Iran is ‘close to over.”U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Admiral Brad Cooper issued a statement on X, saying: “A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East.”“An estimated 90 percent of Iran’s economy is fueled by international trade by the sea. In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea,” he added. CENTCOM also said that U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are among the assets “executing a blockade mission impacting Iranian ports” and that a typical destroyer has a crew of more than 300 Sailors that are “highly trained in conducting offensive and defensive maritime operations.”“The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or leaving coastal areas or ports in Iran,” CENTCOM said. Two Iranian oil tankers were intercepted by a U.S. destroyer as it departed from Chabahar Port in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, according to Reuters which cited two U.S. officials. This brings the total of vessels ordered to turn back following the U.S. blockade of the Hormuz Strait to six. Mr. Trump meanwhile told Fox News in an interview that he believes the war with Iran is “close to over.”“I had to divert because if I didn’t do that, right now you’d have Iran with a nuclear weapon. And if they had a nuclear weapon, you’d be calling everyone over there ‘sir,’ and you don’t want to do that,” Mr. Trump said about his decision to launch the war on February 28. When asked if he thought the war is over, Mr. Trump replied: “I think it’s close to over, yeah. I view it as very close to being over.”Vice President JD Vance also sounded optimistic as he spoke at the Turning Point USA college event in Athens, Georgia, on Tuesday evening. “We had never had a meeting like that, where you have, you know, the person who’s effectively running the country in Iran sitting across from the vice president of the United States, that had never happened,” he said. “After 49 years, there’s a lot of, of course, mistrust between Iran and the United States of America. You’re not going to solve that problem overnight. But yeah, I think the people we’re sitting across from wanted to make a deal, and I know the president of the United States told us to go out there and negotiate in good faith. That’s what we did. That’s what we’re going to keep on doing,” Mr. Vance added. The vice president said that Mr. Trump “doesn’t want to make, like, a small deal. He wants to make the grand bargain. That’s the trade that he’s offering.” Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who hosted American and Iranian delegations over the weekend, is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey in the coming days.

U.S. Navy Enforces Full Blockade of Iranian Ports as Trump Says War ‘Close to Over’

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