Pentagon Says U.S. Maritime Campaign Has Expanded Into ‘Ironclad’ Blockade Against Iran-Linked Shipping

The Pentagon said Friday that the U.S. maritime campaign targeting Iran-linked shipping has expanded beyond a narrow response around the Gulf of Oman into what it now describes as a widening blockade reaching far beyond the region, with roughly three dozen vessels turned back in recent days. In a Defense Department press article summarizing a briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “The United States has imposed an ironclad blockade that grows more powerful by the day, from the Gulf of Oman to the open oceans. Our Navy is enforcing this blockade without hesitation or apology ... every ship that the U.S. believes meets our criteria — either Iranian ships or to and from Iranian ports — has been turned around.”

That public framing marks a notable shift in how the administration is describing the operation. Until now, recent official statements had centered on individual interdictions and threats tied to mine-laying near the Strait of Hormuz. Friday’s Pentagon account, attributed to Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cast it instead as a broader maritime enforcement effort against ships doing business with Iran, one the Pentagon said is no longer confined to waters near Iran’s coast.

The Pentagon article said about 34 ships had been turned around. That figure follows a changing official count from U.S. Central Command, which in operational updates had cited 31 to 33 vessels told to turn around or return to port. Hegseth said every ship meeting U.S. criteria had been turned back. Pentagon social post language reported by outlets said, “We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate.”

The formal declaration followed three U.S. interdictions between April 19 and April 23. On April 19, U.S. forces interdicted the Iran-flagged cargo ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman. U.S. officials said forces issued warnings, fired warning shots, disabled the ship’s propulsion, boarded it and took custody.

On April 20 and 21, U.S. forces boarded the tanker Tifani in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, according to Pentagon reporting. The Pentagon said the ship was carrying roughly 1.9 million to 2.0 million barrels of Iranian crude and that U.S. control teams took over the vessel.

On April 23, U.S. forces boarded the tanker Majestic X in the Indian Ocean. The Pentagon described it as a “sanctioned, stateless vessel” transporting oil from Iran. Reporting said the interdicted ships and their crews, or the vessels themselves, remained in U.S. custody or under U.S. control pending disposition.

The geography underscores why Friday’s statement is significant. The Strait of Hormuz and the nearby Gulf of Oman form one of the world’s most important corridors for oil and gas shipments. A U.S. campaign that extends beyond that chokepoint into the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal is materially broader than isolated Gulf incidents and suggests a wider reach for U.S. naval enforcement.

U.S. officials have described some of the operations as “right-of-visit” boardings involving stateless or falsely flagged vessels. Under Article 110 of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, warships may board foreign ships on the high seas only in limited circumstances, including when there is reason to suspect a vessel is stateless or is using a false flag. The Pentagon’s descriptions of the Majestic X and other vessels have leaned on that terminology, without publicly laying out a broader legal argument for all of the interdictions.

Iran denounced the U.S. boardings as “piracy,” while China’s foreign ministry called the moves “dangerous and irresponsible.” The new Pentagon declaration comes two days after President Donald Trump separately ordered U.S. forces to “shoot and kill” boats laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, part of the same intensifying campaign but no longer the only public face of it.