WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports "is growing and going global," and will continue as long as it takes.
"No one sails from the Strait of Hormuz to anywhere in the world without the permission of the United States Navy," Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing.
He said the U.S. military had seized two Iranian ships in the Indo-Pacific region that had left Iranian ports before the blockade went into effect.
As of Friday morning, U.S. forces have turned back 34 ships to or from Iranian ports, though international ship-tracking data show Iran has still been moving some of its sanctioned oil, according to reports.
Lloyd's List Intelligence, a maritime data and intelligence company, said "a steady flow of shadow fleet traffic" has moved in and out of the Persian Gulf, including 11 tankers carrying Iranian cargo that have exited the Gulf of Oman outside the strait since April 13.
Hegseth said that commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was "much more limited than anybody would like to see" partly due to Iran's mine-laying.
The crews of all three merchant vessels seized by the U.S. military over the past week remain in U.S. custody, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the Pentagon briefing.
"We will continue to conduct similar maritime interdiction actions and activities in the Pacific and Indian Oceans against Iranian ships and vessels of the Dark Fleet," Caine said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is in no "rush" to end the weeks-long U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran as negotiations remain stalled, adding that Americans may spend more on gasoline "for a little while." ■
