US President Donald Trump has declared that the war with Iran is over. The U.S. Navy enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports, six merchant vessels returning to sea, and Tehran threatening strikes across the region suggest otherwise.
Trump’s three words that stopped the news cycle
In a short clip posted on X on Tuesday ahead of the full interview airing on Fox, journalist Maria Bartiromo offered an insight that immediately garnered attention. She said she repeatedly asked Trump, “Mr. President, you talk about the war as ‘was’ – is it over?” Trump’s response was, “It is.”
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The clip, which was described as a curtain raiser before it aired on Wednesday, landed at a moment of acute tension – just as the US military confirmed it had begun enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports.
US military says blockade of Iranian port continues
The US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, announced on Tuesday that its naval blockade of Iranian ports had entered its first full day of enforcement.
According to the command, “in the first 24 hours, no ship got past the US blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with the instruction of US forces to turn around and re-enter an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman”.
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However, the picture was not entirely clear. The Malawi-flagged oil tanker Rich Starry reversed course after initially turning back and finally sailed through the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday. Marine analytics company MarineTraffic noted that the vessel had listed Oman as Sohar as its destination on Monday morning before broadcasting no destination until the evening.
Rich Starry was among several tankers that changed their reported targets. So-called “shadow fleet” ships such as the vessel sometimes fly the flags of landlocked countries and change signals or broadcast false positions, including to evade sanctions against Iran. Other ships have also adjusted their signals to avoid listing Iranian ports, according to shipping publication Lloyd’s List.
US Central Command said no ships had passed through the strait on Tuesday.
A second round of Iran nuclear talks could take place within days
Even as the blockade tightened, diplomatic channels remained open—albeit fragile. As Pakistan tries to bring the parties to further talks, Trump said on Tuesday that a second round “could happen in the next two days”.
In a phone call with the New York Post, Trump initially suggested the talks would likely take place somewhere in Europe before updating that they could be held again in Islamabad. The first round in Islamabad ended without a deal on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which the White House says is a central sticking point.
Neither side has said what will happen after the truce expires on April 22.
The US Treasury has turned up the financial heat in Tehran
Off the military front, Washington DC’s financial offensive against Iran has gained momentum. The US Treasury confirmed that a short-term authorization to sell Iranian oil already stranded at sea “will expire in a few days and will not be renewed”.
The Trump administration had previously authorized the delivery and sale of Iranian oil that had already been shipped before March 20, with that window set to close on April 19. A separate exemption for Russian offshore oil could also expire on Saturday.
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The U.S. Treasury Department sent a letter — seen by The Associated Press — to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, warning them of the risks of continuing to do business with Iran. The letter accused those countries of allowing Iran’s illicit financial flows to pass through their institutions and threatened secondary sanctions in response.
The letter said Iran processed at least $9 billion in 2024 through U.S. correspondent accounts using a number of front companies, mainly in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.
The Treasury Department’s official account on X said that financial institutions “should be advised that the Department is using the full range of available tools and authorities and stands ready to impose secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that continue to support Iranian activities.”
Xi warns of ‘law of the jungle’ as global powers take sides
As Washington DC toughened up, China made its own position clear. President Xi Jinping, who met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, repeated a phrase he used earlier in the day with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi – calling on world leaders to “oppose the world’s decline into the law of the jungle”.
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Xi has called on states to “jointly protect true multilateralism,” boost communication and work closely together — remarks widely read as a rebuke of Washington’s unilateral approach.
Sánchez echoed that sentiment, saying that China and Spain “can contribute to finding solutions to the various trade tensions that exist, the geopolitical difficulties and complexities of today’s world, the wars, the environmental and social problems that plague the world.”
Modi and Trump agree to hold Hormuz Open
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has added his voice to the chorus of leaders monitoring the status of the strait, confirming that he and Trump discussed the need to keep the Strait of Hormuz open during a call on Tuesday. Modi said the two leaders “discussed the situation” in the Middle East and “stressed the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and secure”.
According to Indian media, the call lasted nearly 40 minutes.
