Donald Trump Instructs Aides to Prepare Extended Blockade of Iran and Strait of Hormuz

U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed his aides to make preparations for an extended blockade of Iran, with multiple outlets tracing the move to reporting by the Wall Street Journal and to U.S. officials.

Haaretz said Trump “has instructed his aides to make preparations for an extended blockade of Iran,” citing the Wall Street Journal and U.S. officials, and El País described Trump as preparing for a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Al Jazeera

The BBC reported that oil prices surged after reports that the U.S. was preparing for an “extended” blockade of Iran, and it said Brent crude rose above $120 (£89) a barrel on Wednesday, briefly hitting $122.

El País framed the strategy as a choice Trump has argued is “more effective than airstrikes,” saying he made that case two months after the war began.

The same El País account said the U.S. option for now is to extend the blockade of Iranian ports, and it quoted Trump warning on Wednesday in an Axios interview that “The blockade is, in a sense, more effective than airstrikes. They’re choking, like a stuffed pig. And it’s going to be even worse for them.”

In parallel, the Jerusalem Post said Trump told aides to start prepping for an extended blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, also citing the Wall Street Journal, and it described a Monday meeting in which Trump pushed to continue economic pressure rather than restart the war or end ceasefire negotiations.

The blockade planning is set against an escalation timeline that multiple reports tie to the start of the conflict and to subsequent steps affecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

El País said the U.S.-Israel offensive against Iran has become “Schrödinger's war,” and it noted that this week marks 60 days since the conflict began, while negotiations are stalled and Iran shows no signs of giving way under pressure.

Al Jazeera

It also said Trump’s zigzags since February 28 have included signs of weariness on one day and leaning toward continuing indefinitely on another, and it described a meeting in the White House Situation Room on Monday where the national security team presented options on how to address the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The BBC said Iran has severely restricted shipping through the strait — which “usually carries about a fifth of the world's supply of oil and liquid natural gas” — in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes that began on 28 February, and it added that the U.S. announced it would intercept or turn back vessels traveling to or from Iran’s ports.

It also reported that the U.S. said it would pause attacks on Iran on 8 April, while the key strait remained effectively closed for weeks due to the conflict.

ARAB NEWS and National Post both described the blockade as a continuation of economic pressure, with ARAB NEWS saying Trump decided to continue putting pressure on Iran’s oil exports by stopping any vessel heading to or from the Islamic Republic’s ports.

The reports also capture a set of direct statements from U.S. officials and from the Trump administration’s allies that connect the blockade to nuclear aims and to a broader defense of the war.

El País quoted Trump’s stated objective that the Iranians “cannot have a nuclear weapon,” and it also included Trump’s social media warning that “you’d better wake up soon,” along with the claim that “They cannot behave coherently. They don’t know how to sign a non-nuclear agreement.”

In the same El País account, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the war in a congressional appearance by saying, “We have barely two months of existential fighting. I remind you how long we were in Afghanistan and how long in Vietnam.”

The BBC reported that Trump urged Iran to “get smart soon” and sign a deal, and it said that in a post on Truth Social Trump wrote the country “couldn't get its act together.”

ARAB NEWS added that Iranian defense ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said Washington “must abandon its illegal and irrational demands,” and it also quoted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling Fox News “it’s better than what we thought they were going to submit,” while questioning whether it was genuine.

Euronews and AP both returned to Rubio’s nuclear red line, with Euronews quoting him saying, “We can’t let them get away with it,” and AP quoting him in a Fox News interview that “We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.”

While the underlying reporting converges on an extended blockade, the outlets diverge in emphasis, especially around the economic mechanism, the scale of disruption, and the immediate signals to markets.

El País described the blockade as “more effective than airstrikes,” and it linked the strategy to energy-price escalation, citing an average gasoline price already the highest since the start of the war in Ukraine at $4.23 per gallon, while also saying the Pentagon’s comptroller estimated military spending at about $25 billion in the early stages.

Anadolu Ajansi

The BBC, by contrast, foregrounded market reaction and the mechanics of the blockade’s effect on supply, reporting that Brent crude rose above $120 and that oil traders took the White House meeting with energy executives as a sign the closure of the Strait of Hormuz would continue for a long time.

It said the BBC understands that energy executives including Chevron chief executive Mike Wirth met Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss how to limit fallout from the conflict on American consumers, and it described the executives discussing domestic energy production, progress in Venezuela, oil futures, natural gas, and shipping.

The Jerusalem Post framed the same WSJ-reported decision as Trump choosing to continue applying economic pressure rather than restarting the war, and it added that Trump said the U.S. military was “doing well” in the Middle East during a state dinner with Britain’s King Charles.

New York Post and Crude Oil Prices Today both leaned into the blockade as a squeeze on Iran’s oil storage and production, with New York Post citing experts estimating Iran has “at most 12 to 22 days of oil storage left,” and Crude Oil Prices Today quoting U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on X about Iran’s oil industry and “GASOLINE SHORTAGES IN IRAN NEXT!”

The sources describe immediate and longer-term consequences of the blockade for Iran, for U.S. consumers, and for diplomacy, while also laying out what comes next in negotiations.

“Iran offers to reopen Strait of Hormuz if US lifts its blockade and the war ends, officials say Iran offers to reopen Strait of Hormuz if US lifts its blockade and the war ends, officials say CAIRO (AP) — Iran offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the U”

AP News

El País said costs are mounting, including “the thousands of deaths in Iran—and 13 among U.S. troops,” and it linked the blockade to rising energy prices and to the Iranian economy’s inability to export crude oil, adding that Iran’s currency, the rial, trades at historically low levels against the dollar.

AP News

The BBC said the Iranian economy is facing a deepening crisis, citing that the annual inflation rate has risen to 53.7% according to the Statistical Center of Iran and that the rial has fallen to a record low, while it also reported that around two million Iranians have lost their jobs.

AP described Iran’s counterproposal, saying Iran offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. lifts its blockade and ends the war, and it said the proposal would postpone discussions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

AP also reported that Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, and it said Rubio appeared to rule out any deal that excludes Iran’s nuclear program, quoting Rubio’s “sprinting towards a nuclear weapon” line.

Masrawy said the U.S. asked several countries to join a new international coalition and referenced internal State Department memos outlining an initiative called “Freedom of the Seas,” with the letter stating: "Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy; collective action is essential to demonstrate unified resolve and impose heavy costs on Iran's obstruction of passage through the Strait".