Hegseth says blockade on Iran in place as Hormuz dispute deepens

US War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the naval blockade on Iran remains in place and warned Tehran that Washington is ready to use military force again if diplomacy fails to produce a deal preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The blockade is very much still in place,” Hegseth said in Singapore, adding that the Strait of Hormuz had come up repeatedly in talks with US partners.

He said any eventual outcome, whether through agreement or continued pressure, must leave the Strait of Hormuz open and free of tolls.

“Once a deal is had or not, depending on the choice they make, it will be an open strait, a toll-free strait that the entire world can use, which is the way that it should be,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth said Iran claims to control the waterway, but argued that US military pressure had shaped the negotiating dynamics.

“They want to say that they control the Strait, but we do,” he said. “Everything behind the scenes shows that we are in control when it comes to that, including how the dynamics of the negotiation are coming together.”

On the nuclear talks, Hegseth said President Donald Trump’s position had not changed and that any deal must ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.

“The goalposts haven’t shifted at all,” he said, adding that Iran knew “very, very clearly” what Washington expected from the negotiations.

“We think we’re in a good place to make that deal,” Hegseth said. “Or they can deal with the War Department. And we are prepared. We’re postured even stronger today than we were on day one to address it that way if we have to.”

Hegseth also said the United States remained focused on strengthening its defense industrial base, including production of air defense missiles, Tomahawks and other munitions, while investing in drone capabilities.

An Iranian lawmaker said parliament will soon approve a bill to formalize what he described as the Islamic Republic’s management and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Alireza Salimi, a member of parliament’s presiding board, told ISNA that the bill on “exercising the Islamic Republic’s management and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz” would soon be passed and become law.

He said the entire Strait of Hormuz lies within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, and that only those two countries should decide how it is managed.

The Joint Maritime Information Center said the US blockade of Iranian ports remains in effect and warned ships operating near the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters to comply with directions from blockading forces.

In an advisory dated May 29, JMIC said the maritime security threat level in the Strait of Hormuz remains “critical” because of blockade operations.

The advisory said a restricted area is in place due to military blockade operations in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the North Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.

It said the blockade restricts all traffic entering or leaving Iranian ports, and that ships helping vessels violate the blockade through ship-to-ship transfers are also considered in breach of the blockade.

JMIC warned that enforcement could include “disabling and destructive fires” against vessels that do not immediately comply with blockading forces.

The advisory urged ships to monitor VHF Channel 16, keep AIS transmissions in line with company policy, clearly show their transit intentions and report unusual activity to recognized reporting centers.

It said the warning zone was not intended to block neutral or merchant shipping, but warned that the US Navy could not guarantee the safety of vessels in areas where military operations are underway.

Ships and aircraft crossing the area were advised to avoid the zone if possible, maintain a 30-nautical-mile distance from US units and be ready to respond to US military hails or queries.

IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency said US military warnings to vessels were continuing despite President Donald Trump’s remarks that the naval blockade affecting ships in the Strait of Hormuz “will now be lifted.”

Tasnim wrote that mariners had said CENTCOM warnings related to stopping Iranian ships were still continuing, even after Trump said vessels caught in the strait because of the US blockade could begin the process of “heading home.”

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Iran must agree never to obtain a nuclear weapon, the Strait of Hormuz must be opened immediately without tolls and with unrestricted shipping in both directions, and remaining mines must be removed or destroyed.

Trump also said Iran’s enriched nuclear material would be recovered by the United States, in coordination with the Islamic Republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and destroyed.

He made the remarks before heading to the Situation Room to make a final determination on the possible agreement but left the meeting without any decision.

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, accused President Donald Trump of “betraying diplomacy” by continuing the US naval blockade and making what he called excessive demands in negotiations.

“The US president is betraying diplomacy for the third time,” Rezaei wrote on X.

He said Trump’s continuation of the naval blockade and his demands at the negotiating table showed he was not serious about diplomacy and was pursuing other objectives.

Hossein Alaei, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy, said he warned former Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Shamkhani three days before the war that the United States and Israel would begin the conflict by assassinating Iran’s leadership.

Alaei said Ali Shamkhani replied that they could not kill Ali Khamenei because they would not be able to find him.

A large shelter had been built beneath Khamenei’s compound, stretching about five kilometers at a depth of roughly 40 meters underground.

Alaei said he had assessed that the US and Israel’s plan A had been the 12-day war, their plan B was the January protests, and that he had predicted their plan C would begin with killing Khamenei.

Supporters of the Islamic Republic have insisted that Khamenei did not use the shelter. But Amir-Hossein Sabeti, a member of parliament, said in a street speech that one reason for Khamenei’s assassination was that Iran had been caught off guard by the atmosphere of negotiations and had failed to take the necessary measures to protect his life.

Ships are turning off tracking systems and moving through the Strait of Hormuz in small groups, sometimes with guidance from the US military, as the waterway remains dangerous but not fully closed, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report said some vessels, including large oil and liquefied natural gas tankers, have been sailing “dark” by switching off lights and Automatic Identification System, or AIS, beacons that help ships track one another and avoid collisions.

According to the Wall Street Journal, going dark makes vessels harder to detect electronically and less vulnerable to Iranian attacks, but also increases the risk of accidents in one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints.

Some shipowners told the newspaper they had stayed in contact with US military officials while transiting the strait. The report said US forces use radar, drones and other tools to monitor traffic and advise ships on when to go dark and how to respond to Iranian threats.

The Wall Street Journal said a small number of ships have used a route near Oman that US forces had earlier cleared of mines as part of the short-lived “Project Freedom,” while most recent crossings have followed routes specified by Iran or passed without visible tracking.

The report said US forces cleared a relatively safer path with underwater robots before Project Freedom was halted after Iranian attacks on vessels and Saudi restrictions on US access to bases and airspace.

The Wall Street Journal also cited US Central Command as saying the IRGC had attempted to lay sea mines and fired one-way attack drones in the past week. CENTCOM said the US responded by sinking IRGC mine-laying boats and striking missile and drone sites, describing the actions as defensive.

The report added that ships trying to leave the Persian Gulf face heavy financial pressure, with large crude carriers costing thousands of dollars a day to keep idle, insurance premiums rising sharply and crews receiving war-zone pay.

Before the war, more than 100 ships a day passed through the Strait of Hormuz, the newspaper said. Current traffic remains far below that level, with shipowners waiting for brief windows to move vessels out.

What began as street mourning for Ali Khamenei has become a nightly stage for Iran’s hardliners to attack negotiations with Washington, promote wartime defiance and pressure officials to follow the Supreme Leader’s red lines.

Many of the nightly gatherings – known in Iran’s political and media sphere simply as “the street” – began as collective mourning ceremonies for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed, in squares and streets across Iranian cities before gradually evolving into highly organized political events.

Speakers, most of them from the hardline camp, describe Iran as the victor of the war and oppose negotiations with the United States in many of these events.

The rallies were initially large, but as their rhetoric became more radical attendance gradually declined. Witnesses say most now attract between 100 and 200 people at a time.

Slogans and placards at the anti-negotiation rallies focus on “fully observing the leader’s conditions” and avenging Ali Khamenei and others killed in US and Israeli attacks.

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An Iranian ballistic missile strike on a Kuwaiti air base caused minor injuries to several Americans and seriously damaged two US MQ-9 Reaper drones, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the attack.

The person said Kuwait’s air defenses intercepted the Fateh-110 missile, but falling debris struck Ali Al Salem air base. About five people, including contractors and active duty personnel, suffered minor injuries, Bloomberg reported.

One MQ-9 Reaper was destroyed and at least one other was seriously damaged, according to the report. Bloomberg said the drones cost about $30 million each.

The strike came as President Donald Trump weighs a possible agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran. Trump held a roughly two-hour Situation Room meeting on Friday but left without announcing a decision.

The report said the Iran war has depleted US stocks of valuable munitions, including JASSM-ER and Tomahawk cruise missiles, as well as THAAD, Patriot PAC-3 and SM-3 Block IIA air defense missiles.

According to the latest Department of Defense casualty report for Operation Epic Fury, the US name for the Iran campaign, 14 Americans have died and 409 have been injured so far.

House of Saud, a geopolitical analysis and intelligence outlet focused on Saudi Arabia, reported that Iran’s wartime management of the Strait of Hormuz has created a tiered access system that pressures Saudi crude exports while allowing some regional partners to keep moving through the waterway.

The outlet said Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority charges Chinese-linked vessels up to $2 million per transit to move Saudi crude through Hormuz, while Indian-flagged tankers are allowed through free under a bilateral arrangement.

According to the analysis, the system is not a full closure of Hormuz but a managed-access regime with three tracks: exemptions for countries such as India, Iraq and Pakistan; tolls for Chinese-linked operators; and enforcement exposure for vessels that do not comply.

House of Saud said the main effect has been on Saudi Arabia’s oil relationship with China, citing market data showing Saudi crude exports to China have fallen by more than 60 percent since the start of the war.

The report said Iran’s approach has made Saudi crude less competitive for Chinese refiners by adding toll, insurance and sanctions-related costs, while Russian pipeline crude reaching China avoids Hormuz entirely.

It also said Saudi Arabia has redirected much of its India-bound crude through the East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu, reducing reliance on Hormuz for that trade. But the outlet argued that the route creates a new concentration risk because it cannot carry all Saudi output and could itself become vulnerable if the conflict expands.

House of Saud said the US Treasury’s recent designation of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority adds another layer of pressure by raising sanctions risks for companies or states dealing with Iran’s Hormuz system.