Donald Trump ordered a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday in response to Iran’s “unwavering” refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions during peace talks in Islamabad.
While acknowledging that the marathon negotiations in Pakistan had gone “well” and “most points were agreed”, Trump said Tehran had refused to accept on the issue of its nuclear program.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Best in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any ship attempting to enter or exit the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“Any Iranian who shoots at us, or at a peaceful ship, will be thrown into hell!”
US Vice President JD Vance left Pakistan without a deal after weekend talks with a team led by Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was also in the Tehran delegation.
“We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it,” Vance told reporters.
In two lengthy posts on Social Truth, Trump criticized Iran for promising to open the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s crude oil passes, and which it “knowingly” failed to deliver.
“They say they’ve laid mines in the water, even though their entire navy and most of the ‘minespots’ have been completely blown up. They may have done that, but what shipowner would want to take the chance?” Trump said.
Iran had effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz for weeks since the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign against the Islamic republic more than six weeks ago.
On Saturday, the US military announced that two US warships had transited the strait at the start of a mine-clearing operation.
