USS ''Iowa'' (BB-61), its hull showing signs of its emergency reactivation, sits immobile in the blockade line. Two escort destroyers are visible in the background.
The blockade formation, designated Operation Irongate, places the two battleships in a staggered transverse line across the primary northbound and southbound shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz, flanked by three Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers: USS Gravely, USS Mitscher, and USS Nitze. Under the operational plan, vessels wishing to transit the strait are required to submit to inspection by U.S. Navy boarding parties, with any vessel found to be carrying Iranian-flagged or Iranian-contracted cargo subject to detention. [7] In the first two weeks of the blockade, 14 tankers were turned back and 3 were boarded and inspected, though none were ultimately detained. The three operational destroyers remain fully functional and are continuing to enforce the blockade perimeter independently of the disabled battleships.
The international legal basis for the blockade is heavily contested. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which the United States is not a signatory but has historically observed, designates the Strait of Hormuz as an international waterway subject to the right of transit passage, which cannot be suspended even in wartime under most legal interpretations. [8] The International Court of Justice has received emergency petitions from Iran, China, and the European Union requesting an advisory opinion on the legality of the American action. The U.S. State Department has countered that the blockade constitutes a lawful exercise of belligerent rights under customary international law, citing precedents from the Cuban Missile Crisis naval quarantine of 1962.
Mechanical Failures and the Awaited Towboat[edit]
On March 29, 2026 — just fifteen days into the deployment — USS Iowa reported a complete failure of her main propulsion plant, rendering the vessel unable to maneuver under her own power. USS Wisconsin suffered a similar, though less total, propulsion casualty on April 3rd, leaving her with only limited low-speed maneuvering capability. U.S. Navy officials initially attempted to conceal the severity of the failures, attributing the ships' stationary positions to "planned station-keeping," but leaked internal communications published by The New York Times on April 9th revealed the true extent of the mechanical crisis. [9]
The U.S. Navy subsequently dispatched the USNS Tenafly (T-ATF-194), a fleet ocean tug, from Naval Station Rota in Spain. As of late April 2026, the Tenafly is still several days away, having been delayed first by mechanical issues of its own in the Strait of Gibraltar and subsequently by unusually severe weather in the Arabian Sea. The Navy has not yet disclosed whether the plan is to tow the battleships to Naval Support Activity Bahrain, back through the Suez Canal, or to a dry-dock facility in Diego Garcia. In the interim, the stationary battleships — while operationally embarrassing — continue to function as effective physical obstacles in the narrow strait, and the three accompanying destroyers remain on full operational status. Senior Navy officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have described the situation as "unplanned but not without strategic utility." [10]
