During the first 24 hours of the U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports, the U.S. military warned six ships to stop and turn around because they were violating the terms of the blockade, and all six turned around, according to a U.S. official.
Five of those ships were carrying oil, and two of the ships were turned around in the first two hours of the blockade, the official said. No shots have been fired and no ships boarded at this point.
The U.S. also does not have any significant reports of Iranian military or Revolutionary Guard responses like firing drones or launching fast boats, the official said.
The U.S. military is using more than 100 fighter and surveillance aircraft and more than one dozen ships to enforce the blockade, which the official says is not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz itself, but is rather a blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas.
The U.S. plan is to interdict ships as they enter the Gulf of Oman after they go through the Strait of Hormuz, rather than stop ships from going through it, the official said. The U.S. has more than one dozen ships in the Gulf of Oman and it does not make sense to put them in the Persian Gulf right now, the official said.
Instead, they can use surveillance aircraft, manned aircraft and sea-based surveillance systems like radars to identify ships that are leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas and communicate with them over radio to let them know they are violating the blockade and need to turn around after they transit the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. military directs the ships to go back to Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman, rather than back through the Strait of Hormuz because they have more options and assets in the Gulf of Oman to enforce the blockade.
So far, no ships have refused, but if they do, the U.S. military has full authority to use force to stop them, the official said, including using fighter aircraft or ships to fire on the vessels.
The official is not aware of whether the ships that have transited and continued along — like the Rich Starry — have paid a toll to the Iranians. The official reiterated that the Starry was not in violation of the U.S. terms of the blockade because it originated in the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. military did not order it to turn around.