On 13 April 2026, the United States imposed a naval blockade on Iran following the failure of the Islamabad Talks to end the 2026 Iran war. The blockade began 10:00 EDT and applied only to ships going to and from Iran. Iran said that it viewed the entry of US military vessels near the Strait of Hormuz as a breach of the ceasefire agreement that had been reached days earlier and that it would respond accordingly. On 22 April, US president Donald Trump claimed that the naval blockade had cost Iran $500 million daily while the US Department of Defense estimated that Iran had lost $4.8 billion in oil revenue by 1 May.
On 17 April, Iran announced that its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which had been in effect since the start of the war on 28 February, would be paused for the duration of the truce in Lebanon, saying that passage of commercial vessels through the strait would be completely open. On 18 April, Iran said that it had closed the strait again in response to the refusal of the US to lift the naval blockade. By 18 April, the US stated that it had intercepted a total of 23 vessels. Meanwhile, Lloyd's List said that by 20 April at least 26 ships had managed to bypass the US blockade line in both directions (both toward Iranian ports and departing from Iranian ports). On 19 April, the first direct action of the blockade occurred when the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and destroyer USS Spruance seized the Iranian-flagged vessel Touska. On 14 June, Trump and Iran announced an agreement to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also said that he authorized lifting the US naval blockade. On 17 June, Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian signed the memorandum of understanding to end the war, with Trump signing it during dinner with French president Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles following the G7 summit. On 18 June, CENTCOM announced the removal of the naval blockade of Iranian ports. On 30 June, speaker of the Parliament of Iran Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf falsely claimed that Iran could not export oil during the US blockade of its ports.
On 13 July, Trump announced the reinstatement of the blockade which CENTCOM stating that it would start the next day at 20:00 GMT (16:00 EDT). On 14 July, the US reinstated the naval blockade.
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