Trump: Iron Gate task force now live in Iran, paired with naval blockade

President Donald Trump says Task Force Iron Gate is up and running in Iran. In a Sunday post on Truth Social, he declared the operation is now in full force and effect — and paired it with a boast about the pressure closing in on Tehran. According to the president, very little gets into or out of Iran once you add what he called history's greatest naval blockade.

The task force itself is a CENTCOM creation. US Central Command set it up to choke off Tehran's ability to move advanced weapons, dual-use technologies and other sanctioned goods across Iran's land borders and over the Caspian Sea — routes that have long slipped past maritime patrols.

Trump's announcement lands in a region already crackling. Iran's navy said Sunday that a non-compliant oil tanker caught fire after striking a naval mine east of the Strait of Hormuz, claiming the vessel was transiting without authorization and with its identification systems dark. Tehran warned the strait stays shut to ships violating its rules until, in its words, all threats are removed.

There was more noise the same day. Four explosions were heard on Iran's Qeshm Island, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, which said some points on the island were hit and noted local authorities have stayed quiet. The IRGC, meanwhile, claims Iranian forces safely downed seven US reconnaissance drones over the past two weeks.

The squeeze isn't the only track Washington is working. Axios reported Sunday that Trump pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to move forward with the Gaza peace plan — full Hamas disarmament, demilitarization of the enclave and a handover to a Palestinian technocratic administration. That plan has sat frozen for months, tied up in Israel's parliamentary elections, and the US reportedly wants progress no matter who forms the next government.

And in Iraq's Kurdistan region, the Kor Mor gas field in Chamchamal was hit by a drone strike, several local outlets reported Sunday. Kurdish media said preliminary reports point to gas production being suspended after damage to the field's loading site. No official word yet on who was behind it or how bad it is — Kor Mor is the Kurdistan Region's biggest producing gas field and Iraq's largest independent gas producer.