Extract from ABC News
Donald Trump has ordered the US military to cut off all Iranian ports from maritime traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz. (ABC News Graphics)
A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most vital shipping routes, is set to prevent all maritime traffic from accessing Iranian ports.
US President Donald Trump announced the blockade online after negotiations with Iran in Pakistan, which lasted for more than 20 hours, failed to reach an agreement.
Shipping companies that choose to pay Iran's toll fees to safely pass through the strait will also be stopped, Mr Trump said.
"I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran," he wrote.
"No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.
"The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade."
How will the Strait of Hormuz blockade work?
The blockade would come into effect for all vessels entering and exiting Iranian ports from 10am US eastern standard time on April 13, the US Central Command announced in a statement.
That is midnight on April 14, Australian eastern standard time.
The Strait of Hormuz blockade will impact vessels of all nations looking to enter or leave Iranian ports and coastal areas — including those located alongside the two waterways on either side of the strait, known as the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
"CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports," the statement said.
In a Truth Social post, Mr Trump said Iran's threat to use sea mines in the strait had prevented the US allowing global maritime traffic to move through the waterway.
Hundreds of tankers and other ships were located in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman before a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was set to begin. (Marine Traffic)
"THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted," he wrote.
"We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits.
"Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!"
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a map this month purporting to indicate a "danger zone" in the strait where "various types of anti-ship mines" were laid.
US retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery told ABC NewsRadio the American military could enforce the blockade by conducting vessel seizure operations on either side of the strait.
"A more effective and less risky way is to wait as ships come out of the strait and then follow them and conduct what's called 'visit, boarding, search and seizure'," he said.
Would a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz work?
"It's an insertion of special forces personnel … You would need a certain number of teams that you can insert and then a certain number of US Navy destroyers or allied destroyers following behind to assist.
"You seize the ship and you take it to a neutral port
"This is a good way of solving the problem without causing too much risk for merchant ships."
What is a blockade?
A 2022 US military handbook detailing the "law of naval operations" defines a blockade as "a belligerent operation to prevent vessels and/or aircraft of all States, enemy and neutral, from entering or exiting specified ports, airfields, or coastal areas belonging to, occupied by, or under the control of an enemy State".
The handbook says blockades are typically designed to "interdict the flow of contraband goods" but can also be used to shut down a particular area in a bid to cut enemies off from international waters or airspace.
The US military says blockades need to be announced by a government or force commander, such as Mr Trump — who is the commander-in-chief of the US armed forces in his role as president.
The military handbook says blockade announcements also need to include the following operational details as a minimum:
- The date a blockade is to begin
- The geographic limits of the blockade
- The timing of a grace period to allow neutral vessels or aircraft to vacate the blockade zone
To be maintained effectively, blockades must be enforced by "means of warfare" and applied to vessels or aircraft of all countries, but they must not prevent access to neutral ports and coasts, according to the handbook.
"The blockade must not prevent trade and communication to or from neutral ports or coasts, provided such trade and communications is neither destined to nor originates from the blockaded area," the directive says.
"A blockade is prohibited if the sole purpose is to starve the civilian population or deny it other objects essential for its survival."
How have Iran and others responded?
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the conflict between the US and Iran was "inches away" from a resolution before peace talks broke down in Pakistan.
In a post on social media, Mr Araghchi said there were "zero lessons learned" following the talks.
Abbas Araghchi said ceasefire talks broke down after the goalposts surrounding an agreement to end the war shifted. (Reuters: Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
"In intensive talks at highest level in 47 years, Iran engaged with US in good faith to end war," he wrote.
"But when just inches away from 'Islamabad MoU', we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade."
Iran's speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also led the Iranian delegation in the talks, said his country would not give in to Mr Trump's threats of a blockade.
"If they fight, we will fight, and if they come forward with logic, we will deal with logic," he said according to several Iranian news agencies.
"We will not bow to any threats. Let them test our will once again so that we can teach them a bigger lesson."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this morning the US had not asked Australia to help in its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Anthony Albanese says Donald Trump has not requested Australia's help with the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
He also said he wanted to see peace talks between the US and Iran resume.
"We want to see an end to this conflict. It's having a devastating impact on the global economy and the longer it goes, the bigger the impact will be and the longer the tail will be as well," he said.
"So we want to see an end to the conflict. We have made that very clear for some time."
What it could mean for oil prices
The failed ceasefire talks and threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz have already seen oil prices spike, with experts saying they could increase further.
As markets opened this morning, the global benchmark Brent crude futures jumped about 8 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trade.
Prior to the war, Brent crude oil was about $US60–70 per barrel in late February compared to more than $US100 now.
The US-based Energy Policy Research Foundation has said the Iran war has already taken roughly 10 million barrels a day out of supply.
It estimates a blockade will take about 2 million barrels of oil a day out of the market.
Tony Wood, energy program director at the Grattan Institute, said Iran's oil exports coming out of the Strait of Hormuz were currently going to countries such as China.
"If China was then forced to go and buy oil from countries to replace what it gets from Iran today, that would make things worse," he said.
"How much worse? It's hard to tell … It takes a while before the economic consequences of cutting off a country from getting revenue from its resources actually has a binding impact.
"[But] it's certainly going to have an impact on price."
ABC/wires
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