Posted on 04/15/2026 7:35:27 AM PDT by MtnClimber
“U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East,” said Adm. Brad Cooper; Trump: the Iran war is “very close to over.”
A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer is seen during a blockade mission targeting traffic to and from Iranian ports, in an undated image released by U.S. Central Command on April 15, 2026.Source: @CENTCOM/X.
( Apr. 15, 2026 / JNS ) The U.S. military has fully implemented a blockade of Iranian ports, halting maritime trade in and out of the country within 36 hours, the commander of U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday. Adm. Brad Cooper said U.S. forces “maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East” as part of the operation, which he said has stopped economic trade by sea that fuels about 90% of Iran’s economy.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that U.S. naval forces have intercepted eight oil tankers entering or leaving Iranian ports since the blockade began on Monday. In each case, crews were contacted by radio and instructed to reverse course, and no boarding was necessary, according to U.S. officials quoted in the report.
The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, is leading the maritime operation across the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
In addition to the blockade, CENTCOM forces are clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, with the guided-missile destroyers USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy operating in the area.
A third U.S. aircraft carrier strike group and additional minesweepers are heading to the Middle East to help enforce the blockade and challenge Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military news outlet Stars and Stripes reported on Tuesday, citing fleet-tracking data.
The pending arrival of roughly six more ships will bring to at least 27 the number of Navy vessels in the region—about 41% of all U.S. ships actively deployed worldwide—alongside more than 16,500 sailors and Marines already assigned there, the report said, adding that the beefed-up force is intended to give commanders more flexibility to tighten the blockade and increase economic pressure on Iran’s leadership to curb its nuclear program.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that the Iran war is “very close to over,” adding in an excerpt from the interview posted to her X account early Wednesday that “if I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country. And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.”
Trump also told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl that he is considering extending the two-week ceasefire announced by the president on April 7, but he doesn’t think it will be necessary.
“I think you’re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead. I really do,” Trump said, according to Karl in an X post on Wednesday morning.
Karl said that he asked the president if the war ends with a deal, or “do you just say, look, we knocked out their capability and that’s it?” Trump replied: “It could end either way, but I think a deal is preferable because then they can rebuild. They really do have a different regime now. No matter what, we took out the radicals. They’re gone, no longer with us.”
The president’s comments come amid reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiating teams could return to Islamabad as early as this weekend for a fresh round of talks, following the collapse last weekend of marathon high-level meetings between the two sides in Pakistan’s capital.
Jerusalem and Washington launched joint military operations against the Islamist regime ruling Iran on Feb. 28, hitting tens of thousands of targets, including Tehran’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, before the truce took hold.
Washington has set out firm red lines in further talks with Tehran, including an end to all uranium enrichment, dismantling major enrichment facilities, recovering highly enriched material, fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, securing a broader peace that covers regional allies and halting support for terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the negotiations and cited by the Journal.
The Trump administration has made clear that Iran’s enriched uranium is the “central issue” in the negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who led the American negotiating team last weekend, called Netanyahu following the breakdown in the Islamabad talks and clarified “that the central issue on the agenda for President Trump and the U.S. is the removal of all enriched material, and ensuring there is no more enrichment in the coming years, and this could be for decades—no enrichment inside Iran,” the Israeli leader told reporters at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
“This is their focus, and of course, it is important to us as well,” said Netanyahu.
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There are some armed civilians who are taking out IRGC members caught alone or in small groups.
First, the USA rode into Venezuela on American Harleys, shot up the town and rode off with Xi’s girlfriend Maduro before the CCP sheriff could even get his single Barney Fife bullet out of his shirt pocket. That oil is now locked down.
Second, we bitch slapped them in the Darian Gap, and shut down their fentanyl NGO train of military aged invaders being co-sponsored by USAID and Samantha Power.
Third, we kicked them under the table in Cuba and Mexico where they now must know we’ll be back later to settle up.
Fourth, Iran with all their cheap almost free Oil for them is now under our lock and key. With all their tough talking terrorist ayatollahs either dead or maimed in the first hour of conflict. All while living under the ‘safe’ umbrella of CCP technology.
It should now appear to many there is very little security to be gained by having the totalitarian CCP as your primary benefactor.
Their BRICS money system and Belt and Road Initiative is impacted and even Putin is wondering about its future. Of course the overlords at the WEF must be dry heaving ‘great resets’ into their bidets by now.
Meanwhile Chairman Xi is off having to host the cucked davos installees Keir Starmer and Mark Carney to make himself look strong inside the CCP lest they push him aside. I’m sure Pope Leo will also be along any time now to help prop him up.
According to a youtube channel who monitors real time ship traffic, 200 empty tankers are now moving from Iran to the Gulf of America.
“Good teacher...He really seems to care...about what I have no idea.”
The Trump administration has made clear that Iran’s enriched uranium is the “central issue” in the negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who led the American negotiating team last weekend, called Netanyahu following the breakdown in the Islamabad talks and clarified “that the central issue on the agenda for President Trump and the U.S. is the removal of all enriched material, and ensuring there is no more enrichment in the coming years, and this could be for decades—no enrichment inside Iran,” the Israeli leader told reporters at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
“This is their focus, and of course, it is important to us as well,” said Netanyahu.
If you read between the lines, Netanyahu is saying what the priorities of the U.S. are. He is not saying what the priorities of Israel are.
They are NOT the same thing.
It appears that the U.S. understands that regime change is not going to be possible. For Israel, that is likely still the goal. I would imagine they will continue to engage in underhanded tactics to make sure that is still our goal as well.
We should be supplying the people with weapons. Even small arms would be a big help.
Seal team 6 pays a visit.
We take the oil.
We still board.
Hilarious, funny man and made a lot of people laugh which is a worthy calling.
Still its too bad Sam Kinison didn’t keep preaching, he learned this world is a harsh mistress.
Probably there will be a tugboat along soon to tow the Chinese warship. Chinese and Russian units never go blue water without tugboats.
+1
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