Trump Threatens Strait of Hormuz Blockade After US-Iran Ceasefire Talks Fail

Trump sought to assert strategic control over the waterway, which was responsible for transporting 20% ​​of global oil supplies before the war, and hoped to deprive Iran of its main source of economic influence in the war.

The President added that he “instructed our Navy to search and ban any ship paying toll toll to Iran in International Waters. Anyone who pays toll toll illegally will not have the right to safe passage on the high seas.”

Trump also stated that the United States was ready to “finish” Iran “at the appropriate time” and emphasized that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were at the root of the failure to end the war.

Face-to-face talks ended after 21 hours early Sunday, leaving doubts about a fragile two-week ceasefire.

U.S. officials said the talks collapsed because of what they described as Iran’s refusal to abandon the path to nuclear weapons, while Iranian officials blamed the United States for the breakdown in talks, without specifying the sticking points.

Neither side has specified what will happen after the 14-day ceasefire ends on April 22. Pakistani mediators called on all parties to continue the ceasefire. Both said their positions were clear and put the onus on the other side, underlining how little the gap had narrowed over the course of the negotiations.

After the talks, Vice President J.D. Vance said, “We need to see a positive commitment that they will not seek nuclear weapons and will not seek means that will enable them to quickly obtain nuclear weapons.”

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, who is leading Iran in the negotiations, said it was time for the United States to “decide whether it can earn our trust.”

He made no mention of the underlying disagreements in a series of social media posts, but Iranian officials have previously said the talks failed over two or three key issues, blaming excessive US interference.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but has insisted it has the right to have a civilian nuclear program. It has offered “positive commitments” in writing in the past, including in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. Experts say a stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.

Since the United States and Israel launched the war on February 28, it has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab countries, and caused lasting damage to the infrastructure of half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. Iran’s seizure of the Strait of Hormuz greatly cut off the Persian Gulf and Iran’s oil and gas exports from the global economy, causing energy prices to rise.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that his country will try to facilitate the establishment of a new dialogue between Iran and the USA in the coming days. “It is imperative that the parties continue to maintain their commitment to the ceasefire,” Dar said.

The stalemate and Vance’s take-it-or-leave-it offer that Iran end its nuclear program mirrored nuclear talks held in Switzerland in February. Although Trump has said the next war is meant to force Iran’s leaders to abandon their nuclear ambitions, the positions of both sides in the negotiations have not changed after six weeks of conflict.

An Iranian diplomatic official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the closed-door talks, denied that talks on Iran’s nuclear ambitions have failed. “Iran is not seeking to obtain nuclear weapons but has the right to possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” they said, reiterating Iran’s long-standing position in the negotiations.

Iran has said it is open to resuming dialogue, but there has been no word on whether they will continue, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported. “We have never sought war. But if they try to win through negotiations what they could not win on the battlefield, this is absolutely unacceptable,” Mohammed Bagher Karami, 60, said in downtown Tehran.

The United States is trying to change the status quo in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States and Iran entered the talks with radically different proposals and opposing assumptions about their influence to end the war. Before negotiations began, the ceasefire was threatened by deep disagreements and ongoing Israeli attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The 10-point proposal submitted by Iran before the negotiations called for a guaranteed end to the war and demanded control of the Strait of Hormuz. This involved “ending the fight against regional allies” of Iran and explicitly called for a halt to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah.

Pakistani officials told The Associated Press in March that the 15-point U.S. proposal included monitoring mechanisms and a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program. That includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details.

As a matter of fact, Iran’s closure of the Bosphorus proved its greatest strategic advantage in the war. During the talks, the US military said two destroyers passed through the critical waterway ahead of mine-clearing efforts, a first since the start of the war. However, Iranian state media reported that the country’s joint military command denied this. When the talks extended into the early hours of Sunday morning, Trump said, “We are sweeping the Strait. It doesn’t matter to me whether we make a deal or not.”