Blockade goes live: CENTCOM targets Iranian ports from April 13 as UK and Australia refuse to join

United States Central Command (CENTCOM) formally announced on Sunday, April 12, 2026, that a naval blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports would begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, April 13, 2026, in accordance with a proclamation by President Donald Trump. The announcement operationalized and narrowed the broader language Trump had used earlier in the day on his Truth Social platform, in which he described a blockade of all ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of United States-Iran peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan.

United States Central Command specified that the blockade would be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. United States Central Command also stated that its forces would not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports. Commercial mariners were directed to monitor Notice to Mariners broadcasts and to contact United States naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16 when operating in the Gulf of Oman and approaches to the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Sunday evening, said he was not pressing Iran for another round of talks. Asked how long he might wait for Tehran to return to the table, Trump said he did not know and did not care whether Iran came back. In a Fox News interview earlier in the day, Trump said he believed Iran would ultimately give up its nuclear weapons efforts, and that if it did not, the United States would resume military action against Iran.

Why the difference between Trump’s Truth Social language and the CENTCOM blockade order matters for global shipping

The gap between Trump’s original Truth Social post and United States Central Command’s formal announcement carries significant operational and legal consequences. Trump’s posts described an immediate blockade of any and all ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz. United States Central Command’s order targets only vessels calling at Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, explicitly preserving freedom of navigation for ships transiting the strait on routes that do not include Iranian port calls.

The distinction is directly relevant to vessels from China, India, Pakistan, and other countries that had been trading with Iran under separate arrangements while also using the strait for broader regional commerce. Under the United States Central Command framing, those ships retain passage rights through the strait provided they are not calling at Iranian ports. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing sources, that Trump was separately considering the resumption of limited military strikes on Iran as a means of breaking the diplomatic deadlock.

How Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Tehran responded to the United States port blockade

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy responded on Sunday, warning that any military vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz would be treated as a ceasefire violation and met with severe force. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy simultaneously asserted that the strait remained open for the safe passage of non-military vessels under its own management regulations, directly contradicting the premise of the United States operation and the basis on which the April 7 ceasefire was agreed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said on the platform X that the two sides in Islamabad had been inches away from a memorandum of understanding before the talks collapsed under what he described as maximalism and shifting goalposts from the United States delegation. Iran’s state broadcaster had previously characterized the breakdown as resulting from excessive demands by the United States.

What the United States Department of Justice prosecution warning means for buyers of sanctioned Iranian oil

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Sunday that the United States Department of Justice would vigorously prosecute anyone who buys or sells sanctioned Iranian oil, posting the statement alongside an image of Trump’s Truth Social blockade proclamation. Blanche stated the Department of Justice fully supported the commander in chief and the military. The announcement adds a criminal enforcement dimension to the naval blockade, targeting the financial and commercial networks that had sustained Iranian oil exports through third-party buyers in China, India, and other countries. Iran had been charging tolls of up to two million dollars per vessel for selective passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with revenues funnelled through arrangements with what Tehran regarded as friendly states.

Which countries declined to join the United States blockade and what that means for coalition cohesion

The United Kingdom confirmed it would not participate in the United States naval blockade. A United Kingdom government spokesperson said the country was urgently working with France and other partners to put together a coalition to protect freedom of navigation, a formulation that implicitly diverges from the unilateral United States port blockade approach. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australia had received no request from the United States to participate, describing the announcement as having been made unilaterally overnight.

Trump had stated publicly that other countries would be involved in the blockade and separately suggested that Gulf allies had already begun assisting, though he did not identify any participating governments by name. The absence of confirmed allied participation at the point of announcement underscores the diplomatic tension between Washington’s unilateral posture and its traditional partners’ preference for multilateral frameworks governing freedom of navigation.

What the United States blockade of Iranian ports means for global oil prices and energy costs through 2026

United States average gasoline prices stood at approximately $4.13 per gallon as of Sunday, an increase of $1.14 per gallon since the conflict began in late February 2026. A senior scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy warned on Sunday that oil prices would likely climb further in response to the blockade, noting that a supply shortfall of approximately seven million barrels of crude and four million barrels of refined product was already not reaching global markets before the port blockade took effect. The scholar said elevated oil prices could persist through the end of 2026 even after the strait reopens, given unresolved supply deficits and the extent of damage to regional oil infrastructure.

Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in a post on the platform X, displayed a map of gasoline prices at stations near the White House and warned Americans to enjoy current fuel prices, predicting they would soon miss paying four to five dollars per gallon. The statement reflects Tehran’s broader strategic calculation that sustained energy price pressure on the United States domestic economy represents its most durable source of leverage as military options on both sides remain active.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country would continue seeking to facilitate renewed dialogue between the United States and Iran in the coming days. The status of the two-week ceasefire, originally announced on April 7 following Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s mediation, is now under direct operational strain, with the port blockade beginning the morning of April 13 and neither side publicly committed to a return to negotiations.

Key takeaways on what the United States Central Command port blockade means for Iran, global energy markets, and the ceasefire

• CENTCOM confirmed the naval blockade of all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman would begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on April 13, 2026, applying impartially to vessels of all nations calling at Iranian ports while preserving freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz for ships not bound for Iran.
• The formal United States Central Command order is narrower in scope than Trump’s Truth Social language, which described a blockade of all ships entering or leaving the strait, a distinction with significant consequences for global shipping, allied governments, and the legal standing of the operation.
• The United States Department of Justice announced it would criminally prosecute anyone buying or selling sanctioned Iranian oil, adding a legal enforcement layer to the naval blockade and extending pressure to third-party buyers in China, India, and other countries.
• The United Kingdom and Australia both declined to join the blockade, with the United Kingdom saying it was working with France and other partners on a separate coalition to protect freedom of navigation, reflecting a widening gap between Washington’s unilateral approach and allied multilateral preferences.
• Global energy analysts warned that oil prices could remain elevated through the end of 2026 even after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, given a pre-existing supply deficit of approximately seven million barrels of crude per day and unresolved damage to regional oil infrastructure.