Trump Promises Hormuz Blockade After US-Iran Peace Talks Fail

President Donald Trump said the US will begin a full naval blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and threatened to retaliate in the event of Iranian resistance, escalating a standoff that has already brought the waterway to a near standstill and disrupted global energy supplies.Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said the US will begin a full naval blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and threatened to retaliate in the event of Iranian resistance, escalating a standoff that has already brought the waterway to a near standstill and disrupted global energy supplies.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.The president’s announcement came hours after the US and Iran failed to reach a deal in direct talks in Pakistan, jeopardizing hopes of turning a fragile ceasefire into a lasting end to a war that has claimed thousands of lives.The negotiations collapsed because of differences over the nuclear issue, Trump said in a Truth Social posting on Sunday. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters? Browse here.“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,” he said. “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”The failure of the US and Iran to reach a peace deal, along with Trump’s threats, leaves the ceasefire clinched last week in limbo. Trump said the US will interdict any vessel that has paid a toll to Iran for safe passage through Hormuz and will clear mines in the strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war. He added, without elaborating, that other countries would participate in the blockade. Such a move will likely have a greater impact on Iran, which has accounted for a large share of oil exports through the waterway since the start of the war.Vice President JD Vance, who led the American delegation in the peace talks in Pakistan, said Sunday before returning home that Iran declined to commit to not pursuing a nuclear weapon.“We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer,” Vance said. “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”The lack of a deal is “bad news for Iran much more than it is bad news for the US,” Vance said. “We’ve made very clear what our red lines are, what things we’re willing to accommodate them on, and what things we’re not willing to accommodate them on.” “And we’ve made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms,” he said.The two sides reached an understanding on various issues but disagreements remained “on two or three key points,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said.“It was natural that one should not have expected to reach an agreement in a single session from the outset,” he said on state television after the talks. “Diplomacy never ends” and Iran will “continue to pursue national interests under all circumstances,” he added.“So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not,” Trump said on his social media. “Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully ‘LOCKED AND LOADED,’ and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!”The lack of a deal will likely jolt markets and lift demand for safe haven assets on Monday, analysts said. “Hope had been cautiously rising last week but this could set us back to levels that we were trading at prior to the ceasefire announcement,” said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at AT Global Markets in Sydney. “I would think we will see oil open higher alongside the dollar.”Pakistan called on both sides to maintain the ceasefire, saying it would continue to facilitate discussions between the US and Iran in the coming days. In a first reaction by an Israeli official, Israeli security cabinet minister Zeev Elkin told Army Radio that the two-week ceasefire period hadn’t yet ended and “it’s possible that there will be attempts to generate more talks.” The Israel Defense Forces over the weekend continued their attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, where it is fighting a parallel war against the Iran-aligned militant group. More than 200 strikes were carried out to attack Hezbollah’s infrastructure and provide air support for Israeli ground troops in southern Lebanon, the IDF said on Saturday.Vance arrived in Islamabad on Saturday and was joined by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to negotiate with a 71-member strong Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. “We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance said. “That is the core goal of the president of the United States, and that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.”Direct talks between the two sides started at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Pakistani capital. A team of technical experts had joined the meetings after the first hour, with discussions focused on the Strait of Hormuz, a potential ceasefire extension and phased sanctions relief, according to a US official and a Pakistani official familiar with the matter. Trump, who has said that curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions was a reason for the war, said on Sunday that Iranian leaders “want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear.” The president earlier downplayed the importance of the peace talks and declared: “Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me. And the reason is because we’ve won.”Ghalibaf, the head of the Iranian delegation, had been wary of the negotiations before they began, saying on his arrival in Islamabad that “we have goodwill, but we do not have trust.” Iran has also insisted that a ceasefire in Lebanon should be a pre-condition for talks. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not a party to the Islamabad negotiations, said enriched nuclear material should be removed from Iran, with or without an agreement. Israel has accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, an allegation that Tehran denies.The war in the Middle East has claimed more than 5,600 lives, according to governments and non-governmental agencies. More than 3,600 people have been killed in Iran, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates, while more than 2,000 people have died in Lebanon, the government says.Israel said it’s killed more than 1,400 Hezbollah militants, including 200 last Wednesday.Israel has reported about three dozen deaths, and a similar number have been killed across Gulf Arab nations, government reports show. There have also been several dozen casualties in Iraq. Thirteen American troops have been killed, according to US Central Command.Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.