President Donald Trump is weighing limited military strikes against Iranian targets alongside his Strait of Hormuz blockade commencing 10am ET today, US officials revealed, as oil prices jumped approximately 8 per cent Monday breaching $100 per barrel whilst Britain, Spain and France refused joining the naval operation.
Economic adviser Steve Moore warned the administration must “secure the Strait at any cost” to prevent global recession, with both key WTI and Brent contracts topping $100 as shipping disruptions threaten worldwide commerce through the strategic waterway handling roughly one-fifth of global crude flows.
Wall Street Journal sources indicated options under White House consideration range from temporary blockade alone through full bombing campaign resumption, though Mr Trump remains reluctant further destabilizing the region despite fury over Vice President JD Vance’s empty-handed return from collapsed Islamabad peace talks.
The President declared via Truth Social that 158 Iranian naval vessels had been “completely obliterated,” warning Tehran’s remaining fast attack ships face immediate elimination if approaching blockade zones “using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers.”
“It is quick and brutal,” Mr Trump wrote, though he separately told Fox News he would “hate” escalating whilst noting Iranian desalination plants and power stations remain “very easy to hit” targets.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer flatly rejected British involvement via BBC radio, insisting the UK “is not getting dragged in,” whilst Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles dismissed the blockade as making “no sense” within an ongoing “downward spiral.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced France and Britain would instead convene a conference establishing a “peaceful multinational mission” securing the Strait through “strictly defensive” means operational once circumstances permit.
US Central Command’s Monday seafarer notice specified the blockade “encompasses the entirety of the Iranian coastline” including ports and oil terminals whilst permitting inspected humanitarian shipments.
“Any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to interception, diversion, and capture,” the notice warned, though neutral Hormuz transit to non-Iranian destinations remains unimpeded with enforcement applied “impartially against vessels of all nations.”
Iran’s military command condemned the action as “criminal piracy,” warning: “If the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ports is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe.”
China urged both parties avoiding war reignition with foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun emphasizing the Strait’s importance for “international trade,” whilst Russia announced Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would visit Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing this week.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared Iran “will not bow to any threats” as navy chief Shahram Irani dismissed Trump’s blockade as “ridiculous.”
The Islamabad negotiations collapsed over Iran’s refusal abandoning its nuclear programme—the top US-Israeli priority—with Russia offering holding enriched uranium safely though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the proposal “has not been acted upon.”
Moore told the Journal: “We have the power to protect the flow of international trade and must use it. Or the whole world economy could tumble into a global recession.”
