U.S. set to begin Iranian ports blockade and partial Strait of Hormuz blockade

President Trump took to his Truth Social platform shortly after midnight EDT Monday to say, “The United States to Blockade Ships Entering or Exiting Iranian Ports on April 13 at 10:00 A.M. ET. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT.”

Mr. Trump has also said the U.S. will blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has been controlling traffic through the narrow waterway vital for shipping oil, fertilizer and many other important goods.

But the U.S. Central Command says the U.S. Navy won’t stop vessels heading through the strait to and from non-Iranian ports.

The U.S. moves would come after marathon talks in Islamabad over the weekend among U.S., Iranian and Pakistani negotiators failed to reach agreement on ending the Mideast war.

Iran’s military says a U.S. naval blockade set to begin Monday would be illegal and amount to piracy, warning that no Gulf ports would be safe if its own are threatened.

“The restrictions imposed by criminal America on maritime navigation and transit in international waters are illegal and constitute an example of piracy,” said a statement issued by the Iranian military’s central command center, Khatam Al-Anbiya, that was read on state television. 

“If the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ports in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe,” it added. 

President Trump lashed out at Pope Leo XIV in a lengthy social media post Sunday night, calling the pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

Leo has been critical of the war in Iran and has previously made statements at odds with other priorities of the Trump administration, such as the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.

Mr. Trump repeated several of his thoughts on Leo to reporters Sunday night after arriving back in Washington, D.C., saying, “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.”

Leo had called Mr. Trump’s threat to completely destroy Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable,” and encouraged people to “contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war, always.” 

On Saturday, while he did not mention Mr. Trump by name, Leo said during a prayer vigil for peace at St. Peter’s Basilica, “Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with the display of force! Enough with war! True strength is manifested in serving life.”

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Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest number since 1989, two non-governmental organizations said Monday, warning it risked using capital punishment even more extensively after protests in January and the war against Israel and the U.S.

The number of executions represented an increase of 68 percent from the 975 people Iran put to death in 2024 and included 48 women who were hanged, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in their annual joint report.

If the Islamic Republic “survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression,” the report said.

IHR — which requires two sources to confirm an execution, the majority of which are not reported in Iranian official media — said the figure represented an “absolute minimum” for the number of hangings in 2025.

The figure amounted to an average of more than four executions per day.

The report said the number of executions was by far the highest since IHR began tracking it in 2008 and was the most reported since 1989, in the earlier years of the Islamic revolution.

The NGOs also warned that “hundreds of detained protesters remain at risk of death sentences and execution” after being charged with capital crimes over January 2026 protests against the authorities — quashed by a crackdown that rights groups say left thousands dead and tens of thousands arrested.

“By creating fear through an average of four to five executions per day in 2025, authorities tried to prevent new protests and prolong their crumbling rule,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.