The US military said it would begin a blockade of all Iranian ports on Monday, after talks between the warring sides in Pakistan failed to produce an agreement, with President Donald Trump blaming the Islamic republic’s refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Trump had announced on social media he would blockade the strategic Strait of Hormuz trading route that he has been demanding Tehran fully reopen, after his vice president, JD Vance left negotiations with an Iranian delegation in Islamabad.
The stall in talks dashed global hopes of a deal to permanently end the war that has killed thousands and thrown the global economy into turmoil since it began in late February.
As negotiating teams flew out, mediator Pakistan said it would keep facilitating their dialogue and has called on both sides to honour the fragile two-week ceasefire struck last week that experts said could be put at risk by any maritime military blockade.
“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” US Central Command said in a statement, adding it would begin at 1400 GMT on Monday.
US forces would not impede vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports, it added.
Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed the US military’s statement, a more limited operation than envisaged in his earlier post that asserted all ships trying to enter or exit the strait would be blocked.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had warned before the US military announcement that they had full control of traffic through Hormuz and would trap any challenger “in a deadly vortex”.
In his lengthy social media post, Trump said on Sunday his goal was to clear the strait of mines and reopen it to all shipping, but that Iran must not be allowed to profit from controlling the waterway.
