US Military Says It Redirected 111 Ships in Enforcing Blockade

U.S. military forces redirected 111 ships heading to and from Iranian ports to enforce a weeks-long blockade of Iran, officials said on Thursday, coming as U.S. officials confirmed an extension of a 60-day ceasefire.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees military operations in the Middle East, wrote in a post on X that it has enforced the blockade that has seen 111 ships be redirected or turned back since mid-April.

There are “more than 20 U.S. warships currently enforcing the blockade against Iran,” CENTCOM said, adding that “U.S. forces have now redirected 111 commercial vessels to ensure compliance.”

The blockade was announced days after an initial ceasefire between Iran and the United States was announced by President Donald Trump. On Thursday, a U.S. government source told The Epoch Times that the ceasefire would be extended for another 60 days.

It’s not clear whether the blockade of Iranian ports would continue in the meantime. A Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment.

Before the report of a ceasefire extension emerged, the Iranian military said that it would respond to U.S. strikes that were launched on Wednesday evening against Iranian military targets in the Strait of Hormuz.

“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement carried by state-run media outlet PressTV on Thursday, adding it would carry out a “more decisive” response to future U.S. attacks.

The IRGC also claimed it forced a commercial tanker ship to turn back, saying its navy fired a “warning” shot “towards the vessel” that forced it “to stop and retreat,” state-run media reported.

“Today, U.S. Central Command Forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz,” a U.S. official said in an email to The Epoch Times, adding that American forces also “struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.”

Trump is looking for an agreement that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and is also insisting that Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, while Tehran wants economic sanctions to be lifted as well as frozen assets to be released by the United States to aid its troubled economy.

During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said that he is not concerned about how the war will impact Republicans in the November midterm elections, asserting that he can outlast Iran during negotiations.

“They thought they were going to outwait me,” Trump said, referring to Iran’s leadership. “You know, ‘We’ll outwait ​him. He’s got the midterms.’ I don’t care about the midterms.”