Trump threatens Strait of Hormuz blockade after US-Iran ceasefire talks end without agreement

ISLAMABAD (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy would “immediately” begin a blockade to stop ships from entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after historic U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement or next diplomatic steps in sight.

In his first public comments after the 21-hour talks, Trump sought to exert strategic control over the waterway that was responsible for the shipping of 20% of global oil supplies before the war, hoping to eliminate Iran’s key source of leverage.

The prospect of a U.S. blockade could further rattle global energy markets and prices for oil, natural gas and related products. It was not immediately clear how a blockade might be carried out, but Trump said the goal of the blockade was to ensure all ships could transit: “It’s going to be all or none, and that’s the way it is.”

Trump said he has “instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.” Other nations would be involved in the blockade, he said, but did not name them.

Trump stressed that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were at the core of the failure to end the war, and the U.S. was ready to “finish up” Iran at the “appropriate moment.”

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