“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight, and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow,” Trump said at the White House on Monday.
Trump’s declaration on the Hormuz blockade followed US and Iranian attacks of a scale unseen since an April ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, adding to doubts about efforts to bring a permanent end to the war.
Iran started blocking the strait after US-Israel attacks in February, which prompted Washington’s blockade on Tehran’s ports — but restrictions eased after the sides agreed a preliminary deal in June.
Trump said Monday that the United States was “taking over” the strait and would slap a levy of 20 percent on all cargo shipped through it, in an announcement that drew mockery from Iran and accusations of “piracy.”
US Central Command said Iran’s ports on the waterway would be blockaded from 2000 GMT on Tuesday.
Oil prices shot up more than nine percent Monday over fears of renewed conflict and rose again Tuesday, piling on more than one percent.
Tehran launched attacks on other US allies in the region, including Jordan, which said it had shot down four missiles from Iran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their strikes targeted US forces at an air base and urged Jordanians to issue a “serious demand for the removal of the occupying American bases from the region.”
These attacks came after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced strikes on Monday on Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Oman.
Iran insists it only targets US interests in the Gulf, but its military command spokesman said that any collaboration by Gulf countries with the United States would be considered “an act of war.”