U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington would block Iranian vessels and any ships that paid such tolls and that any Iranian "fast-attack" ships that went near the blockade would be eliminated. Washington/Dubai: The deadline passed on Monday for the start of a U.S. military blockade of ships leaving Iran's ports, and Tehran threatened to retaliate against ports of its Gulf neighbours after weekend talks on ending the war broke down. Oil prices climbed over $100 per barrel, with no sign of a swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to ease the biggest ever disruption in supplies and broader concerns over the durability of a two-week ceasefire agreement reached last week. Since the war started on February 28, Iran has effectively shut the strait to all vessels except its own, saying passage would be permitted only under Iranian control and subject to a fee. Two Iranian-linked tankers, the Aurora and New Future, laden with oil products, left the strait on Monday before the deadline, according to LSEG data. An Iranian military spokesperson called any U.S. restrictions on international shipping "piracy," warning that if Iranian ports were threatened, no port in the Gulf or Gulf of Oman would be secure. "Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea." Trump said that Iran's navy had been "completely obliterated" during the war, adding that only a small number of "fast-attack ships" remained. "The blockade will not impede neutral transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz to or from non-Iranian destinations," Central Command said. "It is quick and brutal," Trump wrote on social media, referring to the U.S. strikes carried out against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific. U.S. Central Command said the measure would take effect from 10 a.m.
