US cadets were trapped as Trump bombed Iran: 'Why didn’t the administration think?'

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth leave following a press conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 6, 2026.

As the first American bombs fell on Iran at the end of February, roughly half a dozen U.S. Merchant Marine cadets who were never warned of the attack suddenly found themselves trapped in the Persian Gulf. As the conflict raged around them — even once resulting in strikes against one of their ships — they were unable to evacuate for a month.

This information has emerged via NOTUS, which was told by multiple sources that at least five American ships working with the U.S. military were caught in the Gulf unaware that a war was starting. On two of these ships were students from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, which trains officers for the U.S. military, the U.S. Merchant Marine, and various roles in the transportation industry.

During previous administrations, such vessels would have received a warning from the Department of Defense, but, said a source talking under the condition of anonymity, “Nobody told them. They were caught unawares. It was very strange that [officials] weren’t even given a whiff, weren’t even given an indication.”

The instant the war began, American ships operating in the Persian Gulf of Hormuz Strait became potential military targets, and one was even hit during the early days of the conflict, killing a dockworker and breaching the hull. According to sources, the lack of warning that would have allowed the ships to vacate the region frustrated not only the private companies that owned them but the Transportation Department officials tasked with overseeing the program.

“If they’d had even just a day’s notice, they could have gotten them out,” said one source.

Once the war began, the U.S. government made no efforts to evacuate Americans from the region. The five ships ended up berthing in allied harbors, where the cadets had to remain on board for several weeks before being extracted about a month into the war.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be on one of those ships,” said Michael Roberts, a former executive at Crowley Maritime.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called for the protection and prioritization of the “many, many” American sailors trapped in the region. He also criticized the Trump Administration for its poor planning.

“The idea that these ships would be stranded was absolutely foreseeable, and it seems to me there were ways to issue warnings to them to, you know, get the hell out of there,” said Blumenthal. “It was no secret that we were building a force there; it would have been prudent and reasonable to say to American-flagged ships with American citizens working on them, ‘You would be well advised to leave that area.’”

According to NOTUS, industry insiders were equally surprised that no warning came from the Pentagon.

“They literally do not think about the second-, third- or fourth-order implications,” one source said about the current DOD leadership. “This is the weirdest I have ever seen when it comes to a major operation like this. With everything else, we got at least some indication something might be happening.”

As another source from the Merchant Marine Academy put it, “Why didn’t the administration think this through, any of this?”

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