CENTCOM Starts the Iranian Blockade Monday - Here Are the Rules and What to Look For

America awoke Sunday to find that President Trump had a contingency plan for the almost certain failure of Vice President JD Vance's diplomatic mission (see New: Peace Talks With Iranian Regime Have Failed, Vance Gives Details From Islamabad – RedState) to end the war with Iran on terms that are politically and militarily acceptable to the U.S. President Trump, using Truth Social as his platform, announced that the Hormuz Strait was closed:

So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not. Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz. At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, “There may be a mine out there somewhere,” that nobody knows about but them. THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted. I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL! Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country. Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khamenei, and most of their “Leaders,” are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition. The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION. They want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear. Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully “LOCKED AND LOADED,” and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran! President DONALD J. TRUMP

 

My colleague Nick Arama covered the announcement in Here We Go: Trump Announces Major US Action in Strait to Shut Down Iran – RedState.

There are moving parts to this directive, and some of them seem confusing.

1. The U.S. Navy will blockade the Strait of Hormuz and prevent any ship from entering or leaving. From the perspective of scale, there are about 1,900 ships in the Persian Gulf waiting to leave and at least 800 ships in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman waiting to pass through Hormuz.

2. Closing Hormuz means blockading ports in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE.

3. No one seems sure how to identify which ships paid a "toll" because the required currencies, crypto or renminbi, were chosen to allow anonymity.

4. The blockade also raises questions on how the U.S. might handle a ship from a friendly nation seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Sunday evening, U.S. Central Command published a public directive on how the blockade will be enforced.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, in accordance with the President’s proclamation.

The blockade will 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. CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.

Additional information will be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice prior to the start of the blockade. All mariners are advised to monitor Notice to Mariners broadcasts and contact U.S. naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16 when operating in the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz approaches.

This provides much-needed clarity.

The Navy will enforce a blockade of Iranian ports in the "Arabian Gulf" and the Gulf of Oman starting at 10 a.m. Monday. Be aware that the U.S. Navy made the change of nomenclature, much as President Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010; however, it still chaps Iranian asses when they see it.

The announcement indicates that friendly ships will be blocked from entering Iranian ports along with the rogue tankers trading in bootleg Iranian crude oil.

The message implies that some kind of escort or patrol system will be established to coordinate passage with the U.S. Navy rather than the IRGC.

There are some other parts that haven't been defined yet. For instance, will Iranian tankers at sea be fair game for seizure? 

Approximately 12 Iranian supertankers are filled and stationary in the Gulf of Oman awaiting dispatch. Will we leave them alone or round them up?

 

There is a growing consensus that Iran has not mined the Strait of Hormuz, and we'd like to keep it that way. My assumption is that we'll actively, kinetically prevent any attempt to mine the Strait, but that is not spelled out. U.S. demining efforts continue. To the best of my knowledge, that is being done by UH-60S helicopters with mine countermeasures packages being flown from destroyers in the area. President Trump has said some Gulf nations will join the demining effort, but there is no reliable information to confirm this.

How, exactly, will we enforce the blockade if a Chinese tanker decides to bull its way through? I'm assuming this contingency, as well as how to handle Chinese warships if this situation persists long enough, and I wouldn't expect USCENTCOM to announce them, but this is something we should be on the lookout for.

President Trump says, "Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade." At this time, the only takers seem to be the UAE and Bahrain. The UK, Germany, and Australia have refused to help, and France seems likely to join that group.

An added bonus is that a third Carrier Strike Group has entered the Eastern Mediterranean.

Anyway, go time is 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Monday, and we'll get answers to our questions then.

For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.