Administration

Waltz on US boarding Iran-linked vessels: ‘All options are on the table’

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by Ashleigh Fields - 04/19/26 3:50 PM ET

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by Ashleigh Fields - 04/19/26 3:50 PM ET

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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz on Sunday said “all options are on the table” when it comes to limiting Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz and economic benefits tied to opening the critical shipping channel.

When asked if U.S. troops would board vessels headed to China, Waltz said, “Well I’m not going to get into operational timelines, but I’ll tell you all options are on the table. The president’s prepared to escalate to de-escalate,” during a Sunday appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“He means it when he said nothing that benefits Iran is coming out of the straits, and then on top of that, Secretary Bessent announced ‘Operation Economic Fury,’ where we are prepared to put secondary sanctions on banks who are transacting in illegal Iranian oil dollars,” he added.

Waltz’s comments come as talks between Iran and the U.S. remain stagnant and as the Trump administration looks to see the strait, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply transits, reopened soon. President Trump said Sunday that talks would occur again in Islamabad, Pakistan, this week.

Trump also said Sunday that the U.S. Navy attacked and took custody of an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel.

On Sunday, Waltz said the U.S. is “truly putting maximum pressure on every aspect of the Iranian economy and at some point, they are going to see some level of common sense and pragmatism and say enough is enough with this nuclear obsession.”

The ambassador slammed Russia and China for siding with Iran amid the war but said other countries are in tune with the U.S. mission to see the strait reopened immediately.

“The entire world is united [in] that a country cannot hold an international waterway, it [Iran] cannot hold the world’s economies hostage because it has a conflict with another country. You don’t see that in the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bering Strait, the Straits of Malacca or any other international waterway,” he told Margaret Brennan.

“Iran is absolutely in the wrong here from a legal, diplomatic and economic standpoint,” he added.

Trump has said Chinese President Xi Jinping has welcomed news of the Strait of Hormuz returning to normal conditions and even said when the two leaders meet next month, he’d give the leader a “big hug.”

Xi spoke out against the U.S. blockade of the strait on Tuesday during a meeting with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, stating, “Maintaining the authority of international rule of law means not using it when it suits us and abandoning it when it doesn’t.”

Xi, alongside other Asian leaders, has raised concerns about increasing energy and gas prices due to the strait’s closure as they heavily rely on Middle Eastern oil.

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