United States Central Command (Centcom) says the naval blockade is being “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman”.

In a social media post on X, Centcom says: “More than 10,000 US sailors, marines and airmen, along with over a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft, are executing the mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian ports.”

It further adds that during the first 24 hours, “no ships made it past the US blockade and six merchant vessels complied with direction from the US forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman”.