US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the United States can maintain its naval blockade of Iranian ports indefinitely, as Washington and Tehran continue to make competing claims over control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to reporters in Panama on Thursday, Hegseth said US warships could be rotated through the region to sustain the operation for as long as required.

“Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we'll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we'll continue to,” Hegseth said.

The blockade targets Iranian shipping and vessels travelling to or from Iranian ports. Washington says it is not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz itself and that ships serving non-Iranian ports can continue to navigate the waterway.

More than 55 commercial vessels attempting to breach the blockade have been redirected since it began, according to the US military. Three ships have been disabled and two boarded.

Earlier this week, the US military said a Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of a Panama-flagged vessel after it ignored warnings.

The operation has become one of Washington's main tools for applying economic pressure on Tehran as efforts to negotiate an end to the war remain deadlocked.

The conflict began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February. Iran subsequently severely restricted traffic through Hormuz, a narrow waterway that before the war carried about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.

Despite months of US military operations and extensive damage to Iran's military capabilities, Tehran has retained the ability to restrict shipping through the strait.

Iranian officials have rejected US assertions that Washington controls the waterway. Hossein Taeb, the recently appointed head of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz was “under the management and control of the Islamic Republic”, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

His comments followed a claim by US President Donald Trump that Washington had “total control” of Hormuz.

The competing assertions underline a distinction between the US blockade of Iranian ports and physical control of the strait. Commercial traffic through Hormuz remains sharply reduced from pre-war levels, while Iran continues to exert significant influence over passage.

The economic consequences have also become an increasingly prominent part of Washington's public explanation of its war aims.

US Vice-President JD Vance told Fox News that the administration's first goal was to ensure that energy costs remained affordable for Americans.

“That's goal number one: keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country,” Vance said.

He described preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon as the second goal.

Vance said he expected the conflict to end with Iran without a nuclear weapon and Hormuz “returned to a place where oil and gas prices are stable for the American people”. He did not repeat earlier US demands that the strait return to unrestricted, toll-free passage.

The US military is also preparing another carrier rotation. The Pacific-based USS George Washington has headed towards the Middle East after leaving Da Nang, Vietnam, and passing through waters leading towards the Indian Ocean.

It is expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has spent more than 260 consecutive days at sea while supporting US operations against Iran.

The deployment illustrates the resources Washington is continuing to commit to the conflict even as Hegseth argues that the Navy can sustain its pressure on Iranian ports without a fixed end date.