Shafaq News- Tehran/ Washington

Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz from the Arabian Sea on Wednesday, hours after US President Donald Trump defended the naval blockade as leverage in nuclear talks.

In remarks carried by Iranian media outlets, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani warned that forces “will quickly take operational action” if pressure intensifies, pledging retaliation “to the last drop of our blood.”

Despite the blockade, he added, "some vessels have departed from our ports, and some have reached their destinations."

The escalation follows US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28, which prompted Tehran to impose limits on US- and Israeli-linked shipping through the strategic waterway. Washington later enforced a naval blockade targeting Iranian ports, with Trump calling it “more effective than the bombing” and his main leverage to secure a nuclear agreement.

Tehran has maintained that lifting the blockade is a prerequisite for meaningful negotiations. A senior Iranian security source, cited by Press TV, cautioned that the blockade “will soon be met with practical and unprecedented action,” adding that restraint so far was intended to give diplomacy a chance.