A Chinese ship just ran the US Hormuz blockade: 'This is a scary moment'

Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026.

President Donald Trump’s war on Iran has brought numerous spiraling consequences, the most devastating of which was Iran’s decision to block American allies from the Strait of Hormuz in response, which has sent gas prices skyrocketing and raised the specter of recession. Not to be outdone, Trump then declared that the United States would blockade the Strait to prevent any ships doing business with Iran from passing through.

This raised a number of questions from experts. While Trump had asserted that he would block "any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” many wondered, would that include Chinese or Russian vessels? And how would that exacerbate the situation?

Then on Tuesday morning, the first ship managed to pass through the American blockade. The ship — while flying a Malawi flag — is not only operated by China, but was already under U.S. sanctions for shipping Iranian oil in the past.

“Trump’s blockade is getting an immediate test,” said respected war strategy expert Phillips O’Brien. “A Chinese tanker has cleared the Strait of Hormuz. Will the US seize it? If the US does, is that an act of war? If it doesn’t, does the blockade collapse? This is a scary moment.”

When Trump announced the blockade on Sunday, O’Brien wrote that the president had “not fully thought out the implications of his actions and this can work out very differently than intended.” At best, ships might decide to press through the blockade, and if successful, prove yet again that U.S. military might is not all it’s cracked up to be. At worst, if a Chinese or Russian ship attempted to run the block and was attacked by the U.S., it could presage a disastrous global conflict.

On Tuesday morning, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the U.S. escalation "dangerous and irresponsible,” with a government spokesperson asserting that the U.S. “has increased its military deployment and adopted targeted blockade actions, which will only intensify contradictions, exacerbate tensions, undermine the already fragile ceasefire situation, and further impact the safety of passage in the strait.”

Now, a Chinese ship under U.S. sanctions appears to have made it through, with three more currently in the Strait attempting to do the same. As this story develops, it marks a dangerous moment in the conflict.

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