April 24 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a press briefing Friday that the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has gone global after seizing two vessels in the Indo-Pacific region this week.
Hegseth said 34 ships have been turned away by the blockade and emphasized that the U.S. Navy will pursue ships beyond the Strait of Hormuz if they use Iranian ports. He announced that a second U.S. aircraft carrier will join the blockade in the coming days.
"Just this week we seized two Iranian dark ships in the Indo-Pacific region that had left Iranian ports before the blockade went into effect," Hegseth said. "They thought they made it out just in time. They did not. We seized their sanctioned ships and we will seize more. A blockade as long as it takes. Whatever President [Donald] Trump decides."
The defense secretary downplayed Iran's seizure of two vessels earlier this week, noting that those ships were not U.S. or Israeli ships.
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