The Trump administration said late Tuesday that it has now closed Iranian ports and cut off the maritime trade that keeps much of Iran’s economy alive.
US Central Commander Brad Cooper said: “The blockade of Iranian ports was fully implemented with US forces maintaining naval superiority in the Middle East. US forces also completely halted economic trade to and from Iran by sea.”
US forces are now preventing ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz
The US military said that it has more than 10,000 soldiers and more than ten naval ships and combat aircraft deployed across the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea to participate in the blockade operation.
According to Brad, in the first 24 hours of the blockade, no ships crossed the blockade line, and six merchant ships were allegedly ordered to turn back and re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
However, some ships are still sailing Via Hormuz Under extreme risk, naval intelligence firm Windward said at least two ships completed the passage on the first full day of active U.S. enforcement.
One of them was the Reach Stary, a Chinese-owned tanker subject to US sanctions that left the Gulf on Tuesday.
About 98% of Iran’s oil exports go to China, putting additional pressure on US-China relations just weeks before Trump travels to China in mid-May.
To make matters worse, an investigation by the Financial Times found that Iran used a Chinese spy satellite “to target US military bases throughout the Middle East during the recent war.”
However, Trump claims that Xi Jinping told him that he had no relationship with the Iranians. “He (Xi) responded to a letter I wrote because I heard that China is providing weapons to Iran, I mean you see it everywhere, to Iran — that China is providing weapons. And I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying, basically, he’s not doing that.” He said Trump.
Trump is trying to keep Jinping’s hangout alive as India gets 4 million barrels of Iranian oil
Public opinion in the United States was also moving little on China. A new Pew Research Center poll, released after a March poll, found that 27% of Americans now have a favorable view of China.
That’s up six percentage points from last year and nearly double the low seen in 2023, when the alleged Chinese spy balloon story added to damage already done by the trade war and Covid era. Now fewer Americans describe China as an enemy. More call it a competitor. About one in ten say that China is a partner of the United States.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have stabilized after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping Met in South Korea Last year, the escalating trade battle calmed down.
The two leaders are expected to meet in Beijing in May, and perhaps again later in the year, with China’s top envoy even describing this year as a “historic year” for US relations.
India is being hit by another side. Its relations with Washington are already difficult, and this US policy clashes with India’s energy needs.
Nearly four million barrels of Iranian oil have arrived in India, the first such imports in seven years, as buyers rush to secure shipments before a US grace period expires this weekend. The Jaya, a very large crude carrier loaded with Iranian oil, is unloading its cargo at Paradip on India’s east coast this week.
Ship tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa indicated that movement. The ship Felicity is unloaded at a rail on the West Coast. Port reports indicate that the two US-sanctioned tankers are expected to leave India by Friday.
