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The U.S. military lifted its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S., Iran and intermediaries signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the conflict in the Middle East.
U.S. forces ended the blockade, which barred maritime traffic from entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) wrote in a Thursday social media post. The blockade had been in place since mid-April.
“American forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” Centcom said. “All U.S. military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased.”
The U.S. Navy ships and other military assets will remain in the area to ensure that all aspects of the MOU — which was signed by President Trump in France on Wednesday — are enforced, according to Centcom.
Iran effectively choked off the Strait of Hormuz — the key passageway through which around 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows — in the early days of the conflict with the U.S. and Israel, causing spikes in oil and gas prices around the world.
The U.S. continued to strike targets inside Iran and on April 13 instituted a naval blockade to cut off Iran’s oil export efforts and further inflict pressure on the Iranian leadership.
The U.S. military redirected 142 commercial ships that complied with the warnings of U.S. forces and disabled nine vessels that did not as of June, according to Centcom’s social media.
The blockade has cost Iran around $4.8 billion in oil revenue, according to an estimate within the Pentagon, The Hill reported in early May.
The Trump administration is looking to get maritime traffic back to normal in the Strait of Hormuz, but that push could be delayed due to the mines Iran placed in the waterway that need to be swept up, deterring some shipping companies from passing through, experts told The Hill.
“They’re an unknown, they’re hard to find, and they create a sense of fear that other weapons don’t,” said Steven Wills, a navalist for the Center for Maritime Strategy at the Navy League. “They can just come out of nowhere if they’ve been laid in the right place at the right time. … I think it’ll take some time to figure this out.”
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