Two US US Navy guided-missile destroyers have reportedly passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, the first such transit through the key global waterway since the start of the war with Iran. The warships’ passage was not coordinated with authorities in Tehran, US media outlet Axios said.
Earlier, there was a report that at least one US warship made a u-turn after Iran’s warning to strike within 30 minutes if it did not. The two ships, however, passed through the strait with no issues reported, The Wall Street Journal reported citing three US officials.
The blockade of the Hormuz Strait has so far been the key leverage held by Tehran throughout the war started by US and Israel, forcing a two-week truce last Wednesday.
The warships crossed as US President Donald Trump said that “we are now starting the process of clearing out” the narrow sea passage in the Persian Gulf.
Peace talks were, meanwhile, being held in Islamabad with Pakistan’s mediation.
Iran has not yet reacted.
Tirade from White House, a u-turn, and then….
Trump has persisted with his tirade against Iran from his social media account, even as US Vice President JD Vance and his team are holding talks with the Iranians. Trump’s latest tirade came around the same time the US made the move via the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, who was at the White House, first fired a claim of Iran “losing big” on his Truth Social account. In the post, he claimed that “the only thing they (Iran) have going is the threat that a ship may ‘bunk’ into one of their sea mines” in the Strait of Hormuz. He then said “all 28 of their mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea”.
“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz,” he declared, “as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.”
It was not immediately clear if he was referring to the peace talks, or an entirely different operation.
Just then, a US warship moved from the Fujairah Port in the UAE towards the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran immediately informed Pakistani mediators that if the American destroyer continued its movement, “it will be targeted within 30 minutes”, state media reported. It subsequently made a u-turn.
Later emerged the reports of two US warships passing through.
The conflict is in a temporary ceasefire after mediation by Pakistan, which is now hosting the negotiations.
Iran ‘losing big’: Trump
The US President’s post was apparently triggered by news reports suggesting “that Iran is ‘winning’, when, in fact, everyone knows that they are LOSING, and LOSING BIG!” He termed all such news outlets “Fake News Media”, using his usual term for unfavourable reporting. He blamed it on their “massive Trump Derangement Syndrome (Sometimes referred to as TDS!)”.
He claimed that Iran’s “Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft apparatus is nonexistent, Radar is dead, their Missile and Drone Factories have been largely obliterated along with the Missiles and Drones themselves and, most importantly, their longtime ‘Leaders’ are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!” — again using a Muslim prayer phrase, and repeating claims he’s made several times since the war started on February 28.
He further said that ships from several countries were headed to the US “to LOAD UP with Oil”. This was in sync with an earlier Truth Social post he made, in which he asserted that the US has more oil than the next two largest producers combined.
