‘No Port In Region Will Be Safe’: Iran Warns Ahead Of US Naval Blockade

Last Updated:April 13, 2026, 18:20 IST

Iran’s Armed Forces Central Headquarters warned that any threat to its ports would trigger retaliation, saying “no port” in the region would remain safe.

Iran’s Armed Forces Central Headquarters on Monday warned that any attack on Iranian ports would trigger retaliation, as tensions escalated ahead of a planned US naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is either for everyone or for no one. If Iran’s ports are threatened, no port in the region will be safe," the statement said, according to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The warning comes as the US military said it would begin a blockade of Iranian ports on Monday, following the collapse of talks between Washington and Tehran in Islamabad.

Iran has already signalled it would treat any such move as an act of piracy.

US President Donald Trump announced on social media that Washington would move to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy corridor he has repeatedly demanded Tehran fully reopen.

The move follows Vice President JD Vance leaving negotiations with an Iranian delegation in Islamabad without a deal.

The US military said the blockade would take effect at 1400 GMT and would apply to all vessels leaving or attempting to dock at Iranian ports along the waterway.

Senior Iranian officials also signalled broader regional consequences.

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force, said the US would leave West Asia “without any achievements", according to semi-official news agencies Tasnim and Mehr.

He added that Washington and Israel should recall their previous campaign in Yemen, which he said ended without success.

Qaani also suggested that Iran-aligned Houthi forces could again target the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, as they did between 2023 and 2025, disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for Iran’s parliament National Security Commission, described the US threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz as “more bluffing than reality".

He warned that Tehran was prepared to respond if the situation escalates.

“It will make the current situation more complicated and further agitate the market he is angry about, and we may also reveal other cards that we have not used in the game," Rezaei said in a post on X.

News world ‘No Port In Region Will Be Safe’: Iran Warns Ahead Of US Naval Blockade

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