BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 16. The number of ships redirected by the US military since the start of the blockade of Iran has reached 78, the US Central Command said in a statement on its X page, Trend reports.
"78 commercial ships have been redirected, and 4 have been disabled to ensure compliance," the statement said.
On February 28, the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Iran. Strikes were carried out against the country’s largest cities, including Tehran. The White House justified the attack by citing missile and nuclear threats emanating from the Islamic Republic. As a result of the strikes on Iran, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other key figures in the leadership were killed. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a large-scale retaliatory operation against Israel. Iran also targeted U.S. facilities in Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Syria with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones.
The conflict has placed the region’s energy infrastructure and maritime shipping under serious threat. Due to security tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, global oil prices have surged.
Through Pakistan’s mediation, a two-week ceasefire agreement was reached between the sides on April 7. The U.S.–Iran talks held in Islamabad on April 11 ended without reaching an agreement.
