U.S. forces boarded an Iranian-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman this week, citing suspicion that it was trying to breach an American blockade, in an operation the Pentagon described as part of an ongoing campaign toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The boarding came after President Donald Trump said Monday he had called off renewed strikes on Iran to allow time for negotiations, even as political pressure in Washington mounted over the administration’s war strategy and the economic fallout from disruptions in global energy flows.
According to U.S. Central Command, the M/T Celestial Sea was searched and redirected after being suspected of trying to head to an Iranian port. The command said the action occurred in the Gulf of Oman, a key maritime area tied to how traffic moves toward and away from Iran’s coastline and the Strait of Hormuz.
The Associated Press reported that the boarding marked at least the fifth commercial vessel action since the Trump administration imposed the blockade on Iranian shipping in mid-April, shortly after a ceasefire began. The administration has said the blockade is intended to pressure Tehran to reopen the strait and accept a deal to end the war, which began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.
Trump’s comments Monday described shifting strike plans in the midst of negotiations. The administration said Trump had planned “a very major attack” for Tuesday, but put the action off, saying allies in the Gulf asked him to wait two to three days because they felt closer to a deal.
The push to keep pressure on Iran has also included actions far from the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Associated Press report. The U.S. military said it boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in the Bay of Bengal, and that it later seized another tanker associated with smuggling Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
In early May, Trump said the U.S. military would begin to “guide” stranded ships from the Iran-gripped strait, but the administration later paused the effort the next day to see whether an agreement could be reached. Days after that pause, the U.S. military said it fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, saying the tankers were trying to breach the blockade.
At the same time, the Associated Press said the U.S. military has reported widespread disruption to shipping in the Persian Gulf. The report said U.S. Central Command recently said that 1,550 vessels from 87 countries were stranded in the Persian Gulf.
At home, Trump faced political headwinds as gasoline prices rose and global energy markets churned, according to the Associated Press. The report said fellow Republicans in Congress were battling the administration’s approach ahead of November’s midterm elections, and it cited the Senate’s vote as an example of internal dissent.
The Senate on Tuesday advanced legislation seeking to force Trump to withdraw from the Iran war, with a growing number of Republicans defying the president in a 50-47 vote, the Associated Press said. In its reporting, the newswire linked the legislative push to the administration’s blockade and strike decisions, which it said have unfolded amid both negotiation efforts and escalating military pressure.
Iran has maintained a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, the Associated Press reported, while the U.S. military has enforced its blockade on Iran’s ports as well as on Iranian-linked ships far away from the Middle East. Before the U.S. blockade, Tehran had allowed some ships perceived as friendly to pass while charging substantial fees, drawing accusations that it was holding the global economy hostage.