WP: US deploys two aircraft carriers, 17 navy ships to Middle East

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States is reimposing a blockade on Iranian ports, reversing what he described as the final major concession granted to Tehran under a recent ceasefire arrangement and marking a significant escalation in the conflict, The Washington Post (WP) reports.

“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The announcement came amid renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran, with both sides exchanging heavy strikes and a tentative ceasefire effectively collapsing following unsuccessful negotiations over the weekend.

Trump also stated that the Strait of Hormuz is “OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran.”

According to the U.S. president, Washington will impose a 20 percent charge “on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.”

The measure is expected to have significant implications for global energy markets, as roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict intensified in February. Trump said the new policy would take effect “immediately.”

The decision effectively reverses key provisions of the memorandum of understanding signed between Washington and Tehran last month. The United States had already withdrawn an oil sanctions waiver and imposed new sanctions on Iran last week.

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched missile and drone strikes against U.S. military bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, claiming to have struck missile, drone and fuel facilities.

Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency also reported that the IRGC had “stopped two ships because they had switched off their tracking systems and taken an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Tehran has asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz and declared it closed on Sunday (July 12), a claim rejected by both the White House and the Pentagon, which maintain that the strategic waterway remains an international shipping route.

The renewed fighting has raised fresh doubts over diplomatic efforts after talks in Oman broke down over the weekend.

Speaking on Fox & Friends on Monday (July 13), Trump dismissed Iran's claims over the strategic waterway.

“We’re taking over the strait.”

“They have nothing; they’ve got nothing,” Trump said while expressing frustration with the negotiations. “Everything was agreed to yesterday, and they leave the room and they call back and say, ‘We had to make a couple of changes.’ I said, ‘We’re not going to make changes.’”

“You know,” Trump added, “they’re professional negotiators.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei blamed Washington for the collapse of the talks, accusing the United States of repeatedly violating the memorandum of understanding negotiated in Islamabad and signed on June 17.

“Interpretation against the text is not permissible,” Baqaei said. “Lying has become part of the U.S. administration’s behavioral pattern, and they have become addicted to it.”

Senior U.S. officials had previously said they believed Iranian negotiators would continue to support freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and publicly acknowledge responsibility for attacks on commercial shipping. However, those expectations faded after Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a statement pledging revenge against the United States and Israel.

Iran declared the strait closed after U.S. forces struck military targets in response to Iranian fire on a Cyprus-flagged container ship. Tehran has insisted that vessels transiting the waterway must sail along Iran's coast and obtain its permission, citing the bilateral memorandum of understanding.

By Aghakazim Guliyev