Within the first 24 hours of Trump's naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — which took effect at 10 AM ET on April 13, 2026 — independently verified maritime tracking data showed at least seven vessels, including four Iran-linked tankers and a Chinese-owned ship sanctioned by the U.S. since 2023, transited the strait.
CENTCOM publicly insisted “no ships made it past the US blockade,” a claim directly contradicted by tracking data from Kpler, MarineTraffic, LSEG, and BBC Verify. CENTCOM's position relies on a narrow technicality: the blockade applies only to ships “entering or departing Iranian ports,” and some vessels were heading to non-Iranian destinations. But at least one tanker — the Elpis — departed directly from the Iranian port of Bushehr and transited without apparent interception.
Pre-war traffic through the strait averaged 138 ships per day; it dropped to just 3.4 per day. Reports emerged that ships were paying Iran $2 million or more in tolls (in yuan or cryptocurrency) to transit — effectively a “toll booth” system. Trump instructed the Navy to intercept “every vessel” paying tolls.
The blockade involves 10,000+ U.S. sailors, Marines, and airmen and over a dozen warships. Brent crude rose 7% to $102 per barrel; gas hit $4.12 per gallon nationally. The IMF warned the disruption could fuel inflation, slow growth, and raise recession risk. China's Foreign Ministry called the blockade “dangerous and irresponsible.”
Max Boot (Council on Foreign Relations) wrote that Trump is gambling that American tolerance for $4+ gas is greater than Iran's pain tolerance — a bet with no exit strategy. Trita Parsi (Quincy Institute) warned Iran could close the Strait of Aden in retaliation, removing another 12% of global oil flow.