Miami.-The United States Central Command (Centcom) stated this Thursday that the US Armed Forces “are not blocking the Strait of Hormuz,” but only ships leaving or heading to Iran, with at least 14 vessels diverted in the last three days.
«The (aircraft carrier) USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) transits the Arabian Sea while the United States blocks the ports of Iran and the coast. U.S. forces are NOT blocking the Strait of Hormuz,» the military organization, based in Miami, stated on its social media.
More than 10,000 military personnel, 12 ships, and 100 aircraft are implementing this blockade to “ensure that no vessel violates the president’s proclamation,” Donald Trump, added Centcom.
The situation in the Strait of Hormuz
In a separate publication, Central Command reported that, after 72 hours of the operation, a total of 14 ships have turned around to “comply with the blockade under the order of US forces”.
Hours earlier, the U.S. permanent representative to the UN, Mike Waltz, declared in the General Assembly that the Strait of Hormuz is too “valuable” to be closed despite President Trump ordering its blockade in response to Tehran’s refusal to reopen it.
Mike Waltz, asesor de Seguridad Nacional de Trump, en una fotografía de archivo. EFE/EPA/SHAWN THEW / POOL
Although the two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran was conditioned on the reopening of Hormuz, traffic has not returned to pre-war levels, which has lasted for more than a month and a half.
As a response, Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to block it as well and threatened to «immediately eliminate» any Iranian vessel that bypasses it.
Although the United States has blocked ships related to Iranian trade, at least three tankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, the first full day of the US-imposed blockade against ships calling at Iranian ports, according to data from vessel monitoring platforms.
Fotografía de archivo de un barco navegando por el estrecho de Ormuz, visto desde Khasab, en la provincia de Musandam (Omán). EFE/EPA/ Ali Haider
The ships that have crossed the strait have departed from non-Iranian ports and the ships that the United States blocked left or were heading to Iranian ports.
