ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States’ maritime blockade on Iranian ports remains in place despite remarks from the American president suggesting otherwise, media affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday. The report comes hours after Donald Trump told ships stuck in the strategic Strait of Hormuz to begin the process of heading home, stating that his country’s naval embargo “will now be lifted.”
“Despite some incorrect interpretations of Trump’s tweet last night suggesting that the hostile naval blockade on Iran had been lifted, Iranian sailors say the naval blockade remains in place and that ships continue to receive warnings from [the US Central Command] CENTCOM, ordering them to stop and denying them permission to pass through the blockaded area,” said Tasnim News Agency.
The outlet added that after the US president’s remarks, “some Iranian ships tried to cross the blockade,” but they were “warned by US warships that they must immediately turn back and remain behind the blockade line or they would be fired upon.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump remarked that “ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented naval blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’”
He further reiterated that “Iran must agree that they will never have a nuclear weapon or bomb” as a prerequisite for reaching a deal with the US on ending the war, adding that the Strait of Hormuz “must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic in both directions,” and that “all water mines (bombs), if any, will be removed… Iran will complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of any mines that are left, which will not be many!”
The US and Israel in late February launched a large-scale aerial campaign against Iran, striking thousands of targets across the country over six weeks of hostilities, before the warring sides agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, halting fighting to allow space for talks.
While the first round of talks concluded without a final agreement on April 11, a second round has yet to take place, with a comprehensive resolution to the conflict still pending.
However, Tehran and Washington appear to be moving closer to an agreement, though no final deal has yet been reached.
The US president on Monday stated that negotiations with Iran “are proceeding nicely,” adding, “It will only be a great deal for all or no deal at all—back to the battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before—and nobody wants that!”
On Friday, Trump reiterated that “Iran must agree that they will never have a nuclear weapon or bomb” as a prerequisite to reaching a deal with the US on ending the war, adding that the Strait of Hormuz “must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic in both directions,” and that “all water mines (bombs), if any, will be removed… Iran will complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of any mines that are left, which will not be many!”
He further noted that Tehran’s stock of highly enriched uranium - the fate of which has emerged as a key sticking point in negotiations between the two sides - will be retrieved by the US, which is the only country, along with China, with the “mechanical capability of doing so,” he said, “in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and destroyed.”
Referring to the unfreezing of Iranian funds, Trump said that “no money will be exchanged until further notice,” while “other items, of far less importance, have been agreed to.”
In parallel with diplomatic efforts, Iran and the US continue to engage in tit-for-tat maritime measures. Tehran has tightened its grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington imposed a maritime blockade on Iranian ports on April 13.
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