(April 12): US President Donald Trump said the US would blockade the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of peace talks with Iran in Islamabad in the weekend.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the finest in the world, will begin the process of blockading any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said in a social media post.
US Vice President JD Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner left the region on Sunday after 21 hours of negotiations with top Iranian officials, mediated by Pakistan in an effort to end the six-week-old war. The talks’ collapse left the ceasefire clinched last week in limbo and Trump’s post signals more peril for the deal.
Iran’s semi-official media cited “excessive” US demands, while the Foreign Ministry said it was natural that differences wouldn’t be resolved in a single round of talks, leaving the door open for more discussions.
Trump said Iran’s possible mining of the key waterway — which normally accounts for about a fifth of the world’s global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies — and their demands for tolls to ensure safe passage is “world extortion and leaders of countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted”.
The president also widened his threat to international waters, saying the US Navy would interdict any vessel that had paid Iran’s toll and that “no one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas”.
See also: US intelligence shows China set to supply Iran arms, CNN reports
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