The U.S. military says it has redirected 70 commercial vessels and disabled four others while enforcing President Donald Trump’s blockade tied to the Iran war, even as a senior U.S. admiral told senators that Iran’s ability to threaten the region has been dramatically reduced.
The new numbers, reported Thursday by Al Jazeera from a U.S. Central Command statement, put a sharper scale on Washington’s maritime campaign around the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said its forces had “redirected 70 commercial vessels and disabled 4” to ensure compliance with the blockade on ships traveling to or from Iranian ports.
The disclosure landed the same day Reuters reported that Admiral Brad Cooper told a Senate committee Iran’s threat had been “significantly degraded” after months of U.S. and Israeli strikes.
A New Measure of the Blockade
The Strait of Hormuz remains the core pressure point in the conflict. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies moved through the waterway. Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, Tehran has largely restricted traffic while Washington has maintained a blockade around Iranian ports.
Al Jazeera reported that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the strait during their Beijing meeting Thursday. According to the White House, both leaders agreed that Hormuz “must remain open to support the free flow of energy.” Trump also said Xi told him China would not provide military equipment to Iran, though Chinese officials did not immediately confirm that claim in their own readout.
At the same time, Iran has allowed some vessels through under special arrangements. Iranian state-linked outlets said around 30 ships had crossed since Wednesday evening, while shipping analytics cited by Reuters showed a smaller increase, with about 10 ships moving through the strait in the previous 24 hours.
Admiral Says Iran’s Threat Has Been Reduced
Reuters reported that Admiral Cooper told senators Iran no longer threatens regional partners or the United States in the same way it did before the war.
“Iran has a significantly degraded threat, and they no longer threaten regional partners, or the United States, in ways that they were able to do before, across every domain,” Cooper said, according to Reuters.
But the admiral did not directly address reports that Iran retained meaningful missile and drone stockpiles in underground facilities. That caveat matters: even a degraded Iran still holds leverage if it can disrupt Hormuz, seize vessels, or force countries into separate passage arrangements.
Shipping Incidents Keep the Crisis Hot
The latest U.S. military claims came amid fresh maritime incidents near the Gulf. The Associated Press reported Thursday that a ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates was seized and taken toward Iran, while an Indian-flagged cargo vessel sank off Oman after an attack that sparked a fire onboard. Indian authorities said all 14 crew members were rescued.
It was not immediately clear who was behind either incident. AP noted they followed Iranian statements asserting control over the waterway and claiming the right to seize oil tankers tied to the United States.
Why This Matters
The new CENTCOM figures shift the story beyond isolated ship incidents. If accurate, they show the blockade has become a large-scale interdiction campaign affecting dozens of commercial vessels, while U.S. commanders argue Iran’s broader military threat has been weakened.
That does not mean the crisis is winding down. Diplomacy remains stalled after Washington and Tehran rejected each other’s latest proposals, and Hormuz is still operating far below normal levels. The more ships are redirected, disabled, seized, or forced into special transit deals, the more the conflict moves from battlefield strikes into a sustained contest over who controls the world’s most important energy chokepoint.