US to blockade Iran after talks fail to produce a deal

With diplomacy faltering and the risk of a wider confrontation rising again, the US military said it will impose a blockade on all maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports and coastal waters after weekend talks collapsed without a deal to end the war with Iran, putting a fragile two-week ceasefire in jeopardy.

The talks in Islamabad, held from Saturday into early yesterday, marked the first direct meeting between the US and Iran in more than a decade and the highest-level engagement since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

They took place only days after a ceasefire began on Tuesday, an effort to halt six weeks of fighting that has killed thousands across the Gulf, disrupted critical energy supplies and fuelled fears that the conflict could spill across the region.

US Central Command said yesterday that the blockade, due to begin at 10am ET (3pm Irish time), would 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”.

It said commercial mariners would receive further details through a formal notice before the blockade comes into force.

Donald Trump said the US Navy will begin destroying mines that Iran had dropped in the Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump also said American forces would intercept ‌every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll ⁠to Iran.

“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Mr Trump wrote on social media, adding: “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”

He said the US Navy will begin clearing mines that the Iranians had dropped in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint through which about 20% of global energy supplies pass.

Shipping data showed that three fully laden supertankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, but tankers were avoiding the route today ahead of the start of the US blockade.

After Mr Trump’s initial remarks yesterday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards warned that military ‌vessels approaching the Strait of Horzmuz would be treated as a ceasefire violation and met harshly and decisively, underscoring the danger of a sharp escalation.

A US official said Iran had rejected Washington’s demand for a complete end to uranium enrichment, the dismantling of all major enrichment facilities and the transfer of highly enriched uranium.

Iran ⁠also turned down US demands to halt funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, and to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the official said.

Abbas Araqchi said Iran had ‘encountered ⁠maximalism’ at the talks

Iranian media reported that the two sides found agreement ‌on a number of issues, but said the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme remained the main obstacles.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran had “encountered ⁠maximalism, shifting goalposts and ‌blockade” when it was only inches away from an “Islamabad MoU”.

“Zero lessons learned,” he said, adding: “Good will begets goodwill. Enmity begets enmity.”

Six weeks of fighting have killed thousands, shaken the global economy and driven oil prices sharply higher as Iran blocked traffic through the Strait of Horzmuz.

In early trading after the talks failed, the US dollar and oil moved higher while stocks in Asia slipped.

Mr Trump told Fox News’ Sunday Briefing programme that oil and gasoline prices may stay elevated through November’s midterm elections, ⁠a rare public admission of the possible politica lfallout from the war.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted a map of gasoline prices in the Washington area on social media with the comment: “Enjoy the current pump figures, with the so-called ‘blockade’. Soon you’ll be ⁠nostalgic for $4–$5 gas.”

Mr Trump told Fox News that he believed Iran would keep negotiating and described the Islamabad discussions as “very friendly”.

“I do believe they’re going to come to the table on this because nobody can be so stupid as to say, ‘we want nuclear weapons’ and they have no cards,” he said.

But several hours later, the US president said he did notcare whether a “desperate” Iran chose to return to negotiations.

“If they don’t come back, I’m fine,” Mr Trump told journalists last night after returning to the Washington area from an overnight stay in Florida.

Mr Qalibaf said the US had failed to earn Tehran’s trust, despite what he described as “forward-looking initiatives” from his side.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who discussed the talks in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tehran wanted “a balanced and fair agreement”.

“If ‌the United States returns to the framework of international law, reaching an agreement is not far off,” he told Mr Putin, Iranian state media reported.