US Navy Intercepted Six Ships Attempting to Breach Blockade of Iranian Ports

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed on Tuesday that six vessels attempted to breach the naval blockade imposed by the United States on Iranian ports on the first day of Operation Freedom, the operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but were intercepted and forced to turn back. 'Six ships attempted to break the blockade from Iranian ports when Operation Freedom began, and all were intercepted,' Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon, during a joint conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine. The operation, launched Monday, aims to restore commercial transit through the strait, effectively closed by Iran since the start of the conflict on February 28. Approximately one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas trade passes through the strait. The US military reported that two US-flagged merchant ships managed to cross it on Monday, the first day of the plan, although the Pentagon acknowledged that Iranian forces attacked civilian vessels during the operation and that Washington responded by sinking six small boats.