The U.S. military is preparing to board Iran-linked vessels and oil tankers in the coming days as part of a sweeping new enforcement campaign dubbed "Economic Fury," a sharp escalation that would extend America's naval pressure on Tehran from the Persian Gulf to shipping lanes around the world.

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the escalation on Thursday, the Daily Mail reported, citing U.S. officials who spoke with The Wall Street Journal. The new directive would allow the U.S. Navy to interdict any Iranian-linked ship on the sanctions list, not just those attempting to leave Iranian ports, but vessels operating anywhere on the globe.

The move marks a significant widening of the confrontation between Washington and Tehran, which until now had been largely confined to the Strait of Hormuz. It comes as a temporary ceasefire between the two nations is set to expire next week, peace talks held in Pakistan last weekend failed to produce a breakthrough, and Iran's military attacked several ships trying to pass through the strait on Saturday.

Caine lays out the rules of engagement

Caine made clear that the scope of the operation extends well beyond conventional Iranian naval assets. In his announcement, the Joint Chiefs chairman said the military would go after the so-called "dark fleet", the network of illicit tankers that has long helped Tehran evade international sanctions.

Caine stated the U.S. military:

"will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran. This includes dark fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil. As most of you know, dark fleet vessels are those illicit or illegal ships evading international regulations, sanctions or insurance requirements."

The operation will be executed with the help of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and enforced alongside the U.S. Navy's existing blockade of all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. There are hundreds of sanctioned Iranian-linked vessels that could now be boarded or intercepted under the new directive.

U.S. Central Command reported that the Navy had already turned away 23 ships that tried to leave Iranian ports. Economic Fury would dramatically expand that enforcement perimeter.

A proven playbook from the Venezuela campaign

The administration has already demonstrated it is willing to chase sanctioned tankers across oceans. In a series of operations tied to President Trump's quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean, U.S. forces tracked and boarded multiple oil tankers that fled Venezuelan waters after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a late-night operation in early January.

The Pentagon said forces boarded the sanctioned tanker Aquila II in the Indian Ocean after it fled the Caribbean. Breitbart reported that the Pentagon framed the pursuit bluntly: "The Aquila II was operating in defiance of President Trump's established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean. It ran, and we followed."

That was not an isolated incident. U.S. forces also boarded the sanctioned tanker Veronica III in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean, AP News reported. The Veronica III had left Venezuela on January 3 carrying nearly 2 million barrels of crude and fuel oil. The Pentagon's statement left no ambiguity about the administration's posture: "The vessel tried to defy President Trump's quarantine, hoping to slip away. We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down."

A third tanker, the Bertha, was also boarded in the Indian Ocean. The Washington Times reported the vessel was carrying about 1.9 million barrels of crude oil and was the last tanker still being pursued from a group of at least 16 that fled Venezuela's coast after Maduro's capture. The U.S. Navy had also interdicted at least seven oil vessels with ties to Venezuela.

That track record, pursuing tankers from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, boarding them at sea, and seizing their cargo, is now being applied to Iran's far larger and more sophisticated illicit oil network. The administration has signaled it intends to treat Iran's dark fleet the same way it treated Venezuela's.

Treasury tightens the financial noose

The military escalation does not stand alone. The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it had sanctioned additional companies and individuals with ties to what it called "Iran's illicit oil transportation infrastructure." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the newly sanctioned ships and firms are controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, an Iranian oil shipping magnate. Ships controlled by Shamkhani are among those likely to be boarded under the new operation.

Shamkhani's family name carries weight in Iranian power circles. Ali Shamkhani, described as a key advisor to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late February, a strike that, as the broader crisis over the Strait of Hormuz escalated, effectively started the current conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche added a prosecutorial dimension to the pressure campaign, saying he will prosecute anyone who buys or sells sanctioned Iranian oil. The combination of military interdiction, Treasury sanctions, and criminal prosecution represents a coordinated squeeze on Iran's primary revenue source.

The Strait of Hormuz standoff

The stakes are enormous. Roughly 20 percent of the world's daily oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump announced Friday morning that the strait was "COMPLETELY OPEN AND READY FOR BUSINESS." But Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, fired back later that same day, warning that "the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open" if the blockade continued.

Iran backed those words with action. On Saturday, the Iranian military attacked several ships that tried to pass through the strait, reasserting what it described as "strict control" over the waterway. The gap between Trump's declaration and Iran's response on the water illustrates the distance still separating the two sides.

Trump had previously declared the Strait of Hormuz "permanently open" after earlier diplomatic efforts. The administration's view is that the blockade and ship interceptions will force Iran to the negotiating table by severely limiting imports into the country.

Trump has also said Iran agreed to hand over its highly enriched uranium, a claim Iran has denied. The failed peace talks in Pakistan last weekend produced no breakthrough, and the temporary ceasefire expires next week.

Hegseth: 'Maximally postured'

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. forces are "maximally postured" and ready to fight if no deal emerges before the ceasefire ends. He added that striking Iran's power plants remains an option, though the administration has acknowledged that such strikes could invite Iranian retaliation against Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab energy infrastructure allied with the United States.

Iran retains thousands of medium- and short-range missiles, a deterrent that complicates any direct military escalation beyond naval interdiction. The economic pressure campaign, boarding ships, sanctioning networks, prosecuting buyers, may represent the administration's preferred path precisely because it avoids triggering that missile threat while still inflicting real damage on Tehran's finances.

The administration's broader strategy has drawn both praise and scrutiny. Trump has pushed back forcefully against critics who have questioned whether the Iran confrontation risks spiraling into a wider war.

Open questions remain

Several critical questions hang over the operation. What specific legal authority and rules of engagement govern the planned boardings? Which vessels will be targeted first? How will Iran respond when U.S. sailors board ships flying flags linked to Tehran's oil network? And what happens if the ceasefire lapses next week with no deal in place?

The Daily Mail noted it had reached out to the White House for comment. The administration has not yet detailed the specific vessels slated for interdiction or the precise legal framework under which Economic Fury will operate.

The administration has also been navigating security concerns around operational leaks during the Iran confrontation, adding another layer of complexity to an already volatile situation.

What is clear is the pattern. From Venezuela's coast to the Indian Ocean, from the Caribbean to the Persian Gulf, the Trump administration has shown it will track sanctioned ships across the globe and board them. Now that same approach is being aimed at Iran, a far larger target with far higher stakes.

For years, Iran's dark fleet moved oil with near impunity while the world looked the other way. That era, if this administration has its way, is over.