The United States has threatened to maintain an “indefinite” naval blockade on Iranian ports and impose new measures to isolate Iran economically as ceasefire talks between the two countries remain in a persistent state of deadlock. This escalation leaves the region in a precarious position, with the US signaling a long-term commitment to its current strategy despite the lack of diplomatic progress.
Furthermore, despite President Donald Trump’s claims that the US has “full control” of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that Iran closed in early March shortly after the start of the war, only a handful of ships have been able to pass through this week. The discrepancy between official rhetoric and the reality on the water has fueled skepticism regarding the effectiveness of the US military’s current posture in the region.
“Claims and repeated posts by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality,” Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) posted on X on Wednesday. The authority further emphasized the Iranian position, stating, “The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted.”
On Thursday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the US military can maintain a naval presence in the region “indefinitely” to enforce its blockade of Iranian ports. “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 during a trip to Panama.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also signaled that the US will apply new economic measures to pressure Iran. “Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures that have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country,” Bessent said in an interview on Newsmax on Thursday.
Questions have been raised about the conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, the US’s flagship aircraft carrier. That vessel has been at sea for an extended period, which surpasses any previous deployment of a US aircraft carrier without a port stop. Reports by two US publications that cover military affairs, the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, cited family members of military personnel on board who said they were suffering from declining mental health and morale, and cases of suicidal ideation.
The Navy Times spoke on the record with one sailor’s wife, identified as Annabelle Loma, who said he had attempted to jump overboard amid what she described as “severe burnout.” In a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote that the aircraft carrier, which departed San Diego, California, in November last year with more than 5,000 US sailors and Marines on board, has now been “continuously deployed” for an unprecedented duration.
Blumenthal raised the alarm over reports of deteriorating mental health on board, as well as shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, an increase in safety incidents, and even disruptions to mail services, through which those on board receive care packages. “These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this administration repeatedly commits US forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” Blumenthal wrote.
The senator added a somber assessment of the human cost, stating, “Now our brave sailors are paying the price in a horrific and unfathomable way.” US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has joined the chorus of criticism, calling for Hegseth to be held accountable. In a post on X, Schumer wrote, “When Pete Hegseth was nominated, everyone knew he was completely incompetent. Pete Hegseth must be fired immediately.”
California lawmakers led by Representative Mike Levin also demanded answers from Hegseth and the Acting Secretary of the Navy. In a post on X, Democratic Congressman Levin shared a letter signed by four US lawmakers, stating that “the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln are unacceptable.” The letter demands clear and honest information from the Department of Defense about the operational failures that led to these circumstances, specifically asking why unsanitary conditions were not addressed and why service members did not receive adequate mental health support.
Hegseth has rejected reports of worsening conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, calling the reports “exaggerated” and insisting that the military is providing all necessary support. However, further questions have arisen after several media outlets, particularly Iranian media, reported that seven US sailors had died during the deployment, a claim the Pentagon has yet to fully address or clarify.
Experts suggest that the current standoff is unlikely to resolve quickly. Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera that Iran is attempting to exert economic pressure on regional neighbors to force a change in US policy. “They want to stay in power,” Kamrava said. “So I’m not sure if this tactic is going to work at this point.” Meanwhile, the blockade continues to serve as a central pillar of the US strategy, despite the mounting internal pressure and the humanitarian concerns raised by families and legislators.
“The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea,” it added.
“No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died, and the one sailor who fell overboard on August 3 was quickly and safely recovered.”
Harlan Ullman, a retired senior naval officer and chairman of the strategic advisory firm The Killowen Group, said USS Abraham Lincoln needs routine maintenance in port, considering how complex and advanced a vessel it is.
“Ships need maintenance, particularly ships that are extremely complicated with very advanced weapon systems such as nuclear-powered carriers with very advanced systems, and there are things that you cannot do in terms of maintenance under way,” Ullman said.
He noted that extended deployments, such as the nine months for USS Abraham Lincoln, “erode the readiness and capability of that ship the longer it’s at sea, and it lacks the ability to repair and extend maintenance”.
It should say, ‘OK, we’ll see what’s going on, and then if there are some issues, we’ll take care of them.’”
Trump has already signalled he would rather rely on squeezing Tehran’s economy than return to a military offensive amid reports that the US may be running low on defensive munitions, something the US president has denied.
“We are low-keying it,” Trump told the news website Axios in an interview on August 9 regarding the US approach to the war on Iran.
The following day, Trump claimed that Iran is in “very bad shape” financially, citing high inflation and difficulty paying its soldiers, and credited a US naval blockade in place.
The US blockade has squeezed Tehran’s most important source of income: Crude oil.
Iran has reportedly already lost at least $6bn in oil revenues since the blockade, which Tehran called “ an act of piracy “, began on April 13.
Ali Vaez, deputy programme director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group, said: “Iran could raise the stakes by targeting US naval assets or pushing the Houthis [in Yemen] to tighten the noose around regional energy exports.
“Tehran’s calculus is that, in every game of chicken with Washington, the US has swerved first – and it sees little reason to believe this time will be different,” he added.
Since the US-Israel war on Iran began, Trump has on several occasions threatened military action against Tehran before backing down at the last moment, observers note.
On Thursday, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, Rear Admiral Ali Azmaei, said: “We have complete and decisive control over all movements.
No movement in this strait goes unnoticed by the warriors of the IRGC Navy,” in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.
Iran sees itself as waging an economic rather than a military war on the US, said Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Technology in Tehran.
Iran is also hoping that the US will simply “acknowledge defeat and leave the region”, said the professor.
Another angle is the economic pressure Iran has been able to apply to neighbouring countries by launching attacks on US military assets hosted there as well as on infrastructure and energy facilities.
“Tehran is under tremendous economic pressure, but we need to bear in mind that Iran’s political system is ultimately a very repressive one.
It’s not that people making decisions directly care about the plight of the middle classes,” he said.
Source: Aljazeera
