Experts warn about risks of Trump's Strait of Hormuz blockade

President Donald Trump has sent US Navy ships into the Strait of Hormuz to create a blockade - something experts warn could put American lives at risk.

Trump announced the move via Truth Social on Sunday, saying the naval assets would 'begin the process of blockading any all ships trying to enter' the Strait. 

US Central Command confirmed the blockade of 'all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports' will start on Monday at 10am ET.

Vessels using the strait to travel to and from non-Iranian ports will not be impeded, CENTCOM said in a statement. 

The president claimed that the threat posed by the Iranian Navy is 'gone' from the key waterway thanks to the US military assault on the nation since February 28. 

However, experts have warned that though much of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' large battleships have been destroyed, the smaller boats that control the Strait are still intact. 

This means the US servicemen sent to the narrow waterway - which is only about 35 kilometers wide - will be sitting ducks for attacks by the IRGC. 

Farzin Nadimi, an Iran-focused senior fellow with the Washington Institute, told the Wall Street Journal that more than 60 percent of the IRGC’s fast-attack craft and speedboat fleet is still operating.

David Des Roches, a former director responsible for Persian Gulf policy at the Defense Department, also noted that Iran's 'asymmetrical strategy is working.'

The smaller, more nimble boats are well versed in controlling the crucial chokepoint by deploying missiles and mines, and by harassing commercial ships. 

'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,' Trump announced via Truth Social Sunday morning. 

'Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!' he added.

'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.'

It comes amid a tenuous two-week ceasefire deal Trump struck with Tehran, which agreed to stop fighting in exchange for the opening of the strait. 

Iran warned by marine radio that any unauthorized ships trying to cross the strait in the meantime would be destroyed.  

Only four ships passed on day one, and Iran plans to limit traffic to about a dozen daily, down from more than 100.

Tehran has also warned of possible antiship mines, urging vessels to follow new coastal routes with Revolutionary Guard guidance.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Journal that the U.S. had completed 'the largest elimination of a navy over a three-week period since World War II.' 

She also noted that the 'U.S. military has destroyed Iran's ability to shoot ballistic missiles or produce more, which will help secure the free flow of energy in the long term.' 

The USS Franklin Petersen and the USS Michael Murphy are the two American destroyers currently in the Strait.

In his Sunday Truth Social post, Trump also said that Iran was 'unwilling to give up its nuclear ambitions' as Vice President JD Vance returned from peace talks in Pakistan empty-handed.

A US official familiar with the deliberations told The Daily Mail that at the outset of the talks, it was clear that the Iranians did not properly apprehend America's core objective, which was that any potential deal has and always would have at its center the fact that Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon.

Over the course of the deliberations, the Vice President corrected this misunderstanding and used his time with his counterparts to probe their own assessments of their positions, per the US official.

The official also conveyed that the Iranians need to recognize that the realities on the ground do not reflect the assumptions they held when they arrived at the negotiations before they will be ready to entertain a serious offer.

The Vice President still believes that a deal remains on the table, and that it is on the Iranians to accept it.

Trump also noted on Sunday morning that he instructed the US Navy 'to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran,' Trump added. 'No one who ​pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.'

'Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN ⁠TO HELL!' Trump said.

The President, speaking separately on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, announced that NATO would 'begrudgingly' support the US in securing the Strait. He called NATO 'shameful,' claiming that 'they weren't there for us, and they won't be there for us.'

Trump said he was 'very disappointed' in the UK, comparing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to infamous Adolf Hitler appeaser Neville Chamberlain. 

'[Starmer] made a public statement: "We will send equipment after the war is over." That's a Neville Chamberlain-type statement,' Trump told Fox.

A UK government spokesperson pushed back against Trump's claims, noting that the UK will not be involved in the Strait of Hormuz blockade. 

'We continue to support freedom of navigation and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, which is urgently needed to support the global economy and the cost of living back home,' the UK government spokesperson noted. 

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