U.S. Central Command said that during the first 17 hours of the blockade, it redirected two commercial vessels.
“The U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance,” CENTCOM said on social media.
Mr. Trump reimposed a naval blockade of Iran on Tuesday after losing patience with Iranian negotiators. He hopes economic pressure on Tehran will force it to comply with U.S. demands to end the war and constrain its nuclear ambitions.
Both nations say the other side violated the terms of a memorandum of understanding that was supposed to set the stage for a final peace deal that would prevent Iran from getting a nuke.
“The only way you can negotiate with these people is through strength, and the only strength is military strength,” Mr. Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst in a sit-down interview late Tuesday.
Mr. Trump said the U.S. degraded Iran’s military and will continue to strike Iran through next week.
“Next week it gets really bad for them, because next week comes the power plants, next week comes the bridges,” the president said. “We’re gonna knock out all their power plants. We’re gonna knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
Mr. Trump says his ultimate goal is to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
However, the conflict, now in its fifth month, is taking an economic toll. The price of Brent crude oil rose again to over $80 per barrel on Wednesday as turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz threatens supplies.
Wall Street mostly shrugged off renewed violence in the Middle East, with stocks buoyed by strong performance from chipmakers.
The average U.S. gas price rose Wednesday to $3.89, up 10 cents from a week ago, according to the AAA motor club. That’s 31% higher than at the start of the war on Feb. 28.
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