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In this handout photo provided by US Central Command, US forces patrol the Arabian Sea near M/V Touska on April 20, 2026, after firing upon the Iranian-flagged vessel that the US accused of attempting to violate the US naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
(Photo: Handout by the US Navy via Getty Images)
Bragging of Wartime Iran Blockade, Trump Admits 'We're Like Pirates'
"We took over the cargo. We took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business," said the American president, of seizing ships many thousands of miles away from US waters. No mention of what the war of choice against Iran is costing the US taxpayer.
May 02, 2026
President Donald Trump on Friday night openly bragged about the US military acting "like pirates" in the world's oceans as he described recent activities of the US Navy incapacitating vessels at sea and then taking their cargo.
"We took over the cargo. We took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business," Trump said with a smile as the friendly crowd at the Forum Club in Palm Beach, Florida, cheered him on.
"We're sort of like pirates, but we're not playing games," Trump added before calling the Iranian "bullies" who had to be confronted.
Trump on US Navy Seizing Ships:
It’s a very profitable business. We’re like pirates. pic.twitter.com/erWDQmJWnw
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 2, 2026
"The only good thing about Trump—only thing!—is that he sometimes says what we all know to be true," said journalist Mehdi Hassan, "but don’t expect an American president to say, admit, out loud."
In a social media post, the Iranian Embassy in New Zealand said: "No need to confess, President, the whole world already knows you. By the way, those who, with performative noise, constantly talk about 'international law' and 'freedom of navigation'… don’t want to condemn piracy now?"
"The only good thing about Trump—only thing!—is that he sometimes says what we all know to be true, but don’t expect an American president to say, admit, out loud."
While using the US military to seize the contents of ships may be profitable to somebody, it's not entirely clear who that might be.
So far, the estimate for what Trump's war of choice against Iran over the last two months has cost US taxpayers in the immediate term ranges from $25 billion, which is what the Pentagon itself said this week, to upwards of $100 billion. Over the long term, including the increased cost of gas and groceries due to the economic disruption and the care of veterans involved in the war, the costs of the war—which remains historically unpopular among the US public—could exceed $1 trillion.
Mark P. Nevitt, a retired US military lawyer and now an associate professor at Emory University School of Law, argues that the series of maritime blockades imposed by Trump on Iran has created a "legally surreal moment" in the ongoing conflict.
"The United States is simultaneously observing a ceasefire with Iran while enforcing a naval blockade—a belligerent wartime operation that has no legal basis in peacetime," explained Nevitt in a column for Justice Security on Friday. "Normally, the imposition of a naval blockade ends a ceasefire, because a blockade is itself a belligerent act."
While there are established legal frameworks for naval blockades during wartime, legal scholars have asserted from the outset of the war—when the US and Israel launched unprovoked bombings of Iran on Feb. 28—that the war itself is illegal under international law.
While the existence of the blockade, an overt act of war, means the US and Iran remain in active military conflict, Trump himself and the Pentagon made the untenable claim this week that because a tentative ceasefire is in place, the US is not engaged in war—thereby trying to sidestep a 60-day threshold under the War Powers Act of 1973 which mandates the president either get permission from Congress to continue the war or end military operations completely.
As Nevitt puts it, "the United States is neither fully at war nor fully at peace according to its own logic."
In his assessment, which makes distinctions between maritime law under normal circumstances versus laws of war and blockades during active military conflict, Nevitt said the Pentagon's position that it can enforce a total blockade of ships coming or going from Iranian ports by interdicting or boarding "sanctioned vessels of any flag state anywhere in the world is remarkably broad and lacks a sound legal basis in international law."
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President Donald Trump on Friday night openly bragged about the US military acting "like pirates" in the world's oceans as he described recent activities of the US Navy incapacitating vessels at sea and then taking their cargo.
"We took over the cargo. We took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business," Trump said with a smile as the friendly crowd at the Forum Club in Palm Beach, Florida, cheered him on.
"We're sort of like pirates, but we're not playing games," Trump added before calling the Iranian "bullies" who had to be confronted.
Trump on US Navy Seizing Ships:
It’s a very profitable business. We’re like pirates. pic.twitter.com/erWDQmJWnw
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 2, 2026
"The only good thing about Trump—only thing!—is that he sometimes says what we all know to be true," said journalist Mehdi Hassan, "but don’t expect an American president to say, admit, out loud."
In a social media post, the Iranian Embassy in New Zealand said: "No need to confess, President, the whole world already knows you. By the way, those who, with performative noise, constantly talk about 'international law' and 'freedom of navigation'… don’t want to condemn piracy now?"
"The only good thing about Trump—only thing!—is that he sometimes says what we all know to be true, but don’t expect an American president to say, admit, out loud."
While using the US military to seize the contents of ships may be profitable to somebody, it's not entirely clear who that might be.
So far, the estimate for what Trump's war of choice against Iran over the last two months has cost US taxpayers in the immediate term ranges from $25 billion, which is what the Pentagon itself said this week, to upwards of $100 billion. Over the long term, including the increased cost of gas and groceries due to the economic disruption and the care of veterans involved in the war, the costs of the war—which remains historically unpopular among the US public—could exceed $1 trillion.
Mark P. Nevitt, a retired US military lawyer and now an associate professor at Emory University School of Law, argues that the series of maritime blockades imposed by Trump on Iran has created a "legally surreal moment" in the ongoing conflict.
"The United States is simultaneously observing a ceasefire with Iran while enforcing a naval blockade—a belligerent wartime operation that has no legal basis in peacetime," explained Nevitt in a column for Justice Security on Friday. "Normally, the imposition of a naval blockade ends a ceasefire, because a blockade is itself a belligerent act."
While there are established legal frameworks for naval blockades during wartime, legal scholars have asserted from the outset of the war—when the US and Israel launched unprovoked bombings of Iran on Feb. 28—that the war itself is illegal under international law.
While the existence of the blockade, an overt act of war, means the US and Iran remain in active military conflict, Trump himself and the Pentagon made the untenable claim this week that because a tentative ceasefire is in place, the US is not engaged in war—thereby trying to sidestep a 60-day threshold under the War Powers Act of 1973 which mandates the president either get permission from Congress to continue the war or end military operations completely.
As Nevitt puts it, "the United States is neither fully at war nor fully at peace according to its own logic."
In his assessment, which makes distinctions between maritime law under normal circumstances versus laws of war and blockades during active military conflict, Nevitt said the Pentagon's position that it can enforce a total blockade of ships coming or going from Iranian ports by interdicting or boarding "sanctioned vessels of any flag state anywhere in the world is remarkably broad and lacks a sound legal basis in international law."
President Donald Trump on Friday night openly bragged about the US military acting "like pirates" in the world's oceans as he described recent activities of the US Navy incapacitating vessels at sea and then taking their cargo.
"We took over the cargo. We took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business," Trump said with a smile as the friendly crowd at the Forum Club in Palm Beach, Florida, cheered him on.
"We're sort of like pirates, but we're not playing games," Trump added before calling the Iranian "bullies" who had to be confronted.
Trump on US Navy Seizing Ships:
It’s a very profitable business. We’re like pirates. pic.twitter.com/erWDQmJWnw
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 2, 2026
"The only good thing about Trump—only thing!—is that he sometimes says what we all know to be true," said journalist Mehdi Hassan, "but don’t expect an American president to say, admit, out loud."
In a social media post, the Iranian Embassy in New Zealand said: "No need to confess, President, the whole world already knows you. By the way, those who, with performative noise, constantly talk about 'international law' and 'freedom of navigation'… don’t want to condemn piracy now?"
"The only good thing about Trump—only thing!—is that he sometimes says what we all know to be true, but don’t expect an American president to say, admit, out loud."
While using the US military to seize the contents of ships may be profitable to somebody, it's not entirely clear who that might be.
So far, the estimate for what Trump's war of choice against Iran over the last two months has cost US taxpayers in the immediate term ranges from $25 billion, which is what the Pentagon itself said this week, to upwards of $100 billion. Over the long term, including the increased cost of gas and groceries due to the economic disruption and the care of veterans involved in the war, the costs of the war—which remains historically unpopular among the US public—could exceed $1 trillion.
Mark P. Nevitt, a retired US military lawyer and now an associate professor at Emory University School of Law, argues that the series of maritime blockades imposed by Trump on Iran has created a "legally surreal moment" in the ongoing conflict.
"The United States is simultaneously observing a ceasefire with Iran while enforcing a naval blockade—a belligerent wartime operation that has no legal basis in peacetime," explained Nevitt in a column for Justice Security on Friday. "Normally, the imposition of a naval blockade ends a ceasefire, because a blockade is itself a belligerent act."
While there are established legal frameworks for naval blockades during wartime, legal scholars have asserted from the outset of the war—when the US and Israel launched unprovoked bombings of Iran on Feb. 28—that the war itself is illegal under international law.
While the existence of the blockade, an overt act of war, means the US and Iran remain in active military conflict, Trump himself and the Pentagon made the untenable claim this week that because a tentative ceasefire is in place, the US is not engaged in war—thereby trying to sidestep a 60-day threshold under the War Powers Act of 1973 which mandates the president either get permission from Congress to continue the war or end military operations completely.
As Nevitt puts it, "the United States is neither fully at war nor fully at peace according to its own logic."
In his assessment, which makes distinctions between maritime law under normal circumstances versus laws of war and blockades during active military conflict, Nevitt said the Pentagon's position that it can enforce a total blockade of ships coming or going from Iranian ports by interdicting or boarding "sanctioned vessels of any flag state anywhere in the world is remarkably broad and lacks a sound legal basis in international law."
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