US threatens ‘indefinite’ blockade against Iran: How long can it last?

The United States has threatened to maintain an “indefinite” naval blockade on Iranian ports and impose new measures to isolate Iran economically as ceasefire talks between the two countries remain in deadlock .

However, lawmakers in the US raised the alarm this week following reports of dire conditions on board the flagship USS Abraham Lincoln , including accounts of sailors trying to jump overboard.

Furthermore, despite President Donald Trump’s claims that the US has “full control” of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that Iran closed in early March shortly after the start of the war, only a handful of ships have been able to pass through this week.

“Claims and repeated posts by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality,” Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) posted on X on Wednesday.

“The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted,” it added.

So how long can the US really keep a naval blockade going, and can Iran just wait it out?

On Thursday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the US military can maintain a naval presence in the region “indefinitely” to enforce its blockade of Iranian ports.

“Indefinitely, the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we’ll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we’ll continue to,” Hegseth told reporters during a trip to Panama.