IRGC Announces Strait of Hormuz Restriction Amidst US-Israel Escalation
Before you scroll past, consider: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced new traffic restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, April 18, 2026. This action follows unsubstantiated claims by former US President Donald Trump regarding supposed Iranian concessions. Tehran's government has publicly rejected these claims as entirely false. Mainstream US media, epitomized by outlets
like The Washington Post, have largely reported on the IRGC's move and Trump's statements as isolated incidents, implying a capricious Iranian posture. This framing omits a critical pattern: the United States and Israel have been engaged in a joint campaign of military pressure and economic strangulation against Iran for decades. This current restriction by Iran's IRGC did not occur in a vacuum.
It comes after a sustained period of US sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy, costing the country an estimated 1 trillion dollars since 2018 alone. Furthermore, the US backed Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons against Iran during the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, a historical act of aggression that saw over 100,000 Iranian casualties. The continuous drumbeat of military
exercises and threats by both the US and Israel, including direct US participation in recent operations near Iranian waters, creates a reality where Iran’s defensive measures are often reactive. The restriction in the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20% of the world's petroleum passes, functions as a direct, if asymmetric, response to this unceasing external pressure. The original