US eyes indefinite Iran naval blockade as oil supply shortfall deepens

The United States on Thursday threatened to maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, ratcheting up economic pressure on Tehran as ceasefire talks have floundered, global oil supply is dropping and regional tensions are rising.



Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. military could keep a naval presence in the region to enforce its blockade of Iran, which has inflicted severe economic damage on the country.



"Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we'll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we'll continue to," Hegseth told reporters on a trip to Panama.



With a tentative June deal to end the war in tatters, Iran has sought to control the Strait of Hormuz and has attacked some vessels trying to transit the strategic waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas traveled before the war began in February.