The US is pushing for a new international coalition to restart commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as talks with Tehran stall, US media reported.
The US Department of State sent an internal cable to US embassies calling on diplomats to convince governments around the world to join the Maritime Freedom Construct, a US-led bloc that would share information, coordinate diplomatically and enforce sanctions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Iran has sought to extract a price for being attacked by exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Photo: Reuters
US President Donald Trump has called on allies to unblock the strait, saying last month that “this should have always been a team effort.”
The Maritime Freedom Construct would have the state department as a “diplomatic operations hub” and the US Central Command providing “real-time maritime domain awareness,” the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the cable sent on Tuesday.
“Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy,” the cable reportedly said. “Collective action is essential to demonstrate unified resolve and impose meaningful costs on Iranian obstruction of transit through the strait.”
A senior Trump administration official told the newspaper that the idea was one of the many diplomatic and policy resources at the president’s disposal.
Meanwhile, in Tehran yesterday, Iran’s supreme leader said that Washington’s plans had failed.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei spoke in a written statement read aloud on Iranian state television, as he has since he took over after the Feb. 28 airstrike that killed his 86-year-old father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” Mojtaba Khamenei said, hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait.
He added that the only place Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters.”
“Any attempt to impose a maritime blockade or restrictions is contrary to international law ... and is doomed to fail,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a separate statement.
Additional reporting by AP
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