ISLAMABAD (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Sunday the U.S. Navy would swiftly begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the strategic Strait of Hormuz, after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement.<\/p>\n
U.S. Central Command announced the blockade would involve all Iranian ports, beginning on Monday at 10 a.m. EDT, or 5:30 p.m. in Iran, to be \u201cenforced impartially against vessels of all nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, CENTCOM said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the strait. Its announcement was a step down from the president\u2019s earlier threat to blockade the entire strait, and allows traffic to flow in the crucial waterway as long as it avoids Iranian ports.<\/p>\n
Trump wants to weaken Iran\u2019s key leverage in the war after demanding that it reopen the strait to global traffic on the waterway where 20% of global oil transited before fighting began.<\/p>\n
That traffic has been limited even in the days since the ceasefire. Marine trackers say over 40 commercial ships have crossed since the start of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n
A U.S. blockade could further rattle global energy markets.<\/p>\n
Oil prices rose in early market trading after the blockade announcement. The price of U.S. crude rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel, and Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7% to $102.29. Brent crude cost roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February.<\/p>\n
Later Sunday, Trump extended his feud over the war with Pope Leo XIV, lashing out in a TruthSocial post that called the Catholic leader \u201cterrible on foreign policy.\u201d The extraordinary broadside came after Leo denounced the war and demanded that political leaders stop and negotiate peace.<\/p>\n
Iran says \u2018if you fight, we will fight\u2019<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard later said the strait remained under Iran\u2019s \u201cfull control\u201d and was open for non-military vessels, but military ones would get a \u201cforceful response,\u201d two semi-official Iranian news agencies reported.<\/p>\n
During the 21-hour talks this weekend in Pakistan, the U.S. military said two destroyers had transited the strait ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran denied it.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s plan to use the Navy to block the strait is unrealistic and he will have to concede on some issues with Iran, said Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in security studies at Kings College London. \u201cThere isn\u2019t any tool in the toolbox in terms of the military lever that he could use to get his way,\u201d Krieg said.<\/p>\n
Trump said Tehran\u2019s nuclear ambitions were at the core of the talks\u2019 failure. In comments to Fox News, he again threatened to strike civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led Iran\u2019s side in the talks, addressed Trump in a new statement on his return to Iran: \u201cIf you fight, we will fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
No word on what happens after ceasefire expires<\/p>\n
The face-to-face talks that ended early Sunday were the highest-level negotiations between the longtime rivals since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n
Neither indicated what will happen after the ceasefire expires on April 22.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon,\u201d said Vice President JD Vance, leading the U.S. side.<\/p>\n
Iranian negotiators could not agree to all U.S. \u201cred lines,\u201d said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe positions on the record. These included Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon, ending uranium enrichment, dismantling major enrichment facilities and allowing retrieval of its highly enriched uranium, along with opening the Strait of Hormuz and ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials said talks fell apart over two or three key issues, blaming what they called U.S. overreach. Qalibaf, who noted progress in negotiations, said it was time for the United States \u201cto decide whether it can gain our trust or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue in the coming days. Iran said it was open to continuing dialogue, state-run IRNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n
The European Union urged further diplomatic efforts. The foreign minister of Oman, located on the Strait of Hormuz\u2019s southern coast, called for parties to \u201cmake painful concessions.\u201d The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin \u201cemphasized his readiness\u201d to help bring about a diplomatic settlement in a call with Iran\u2019s president.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s nuclear program is a key sticking point<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s nuclear program was at the center of tensions long before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,055 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and damaged infrastructure in half a dozen countries.<\/p>\n
Tehran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but insists on its right to a civilian nuclear program. The landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump later pulled the U.S. out of, took well over a year of negotiations. Experts say Iran\u2019s stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.<\/p>\n
An Iranian diplomatic official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of closed-door talks, denied that negotiations had failed over Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n
Inside Iran, there was new exhaustion and anger after months of unrest that began with nationwide protests against economic issues and then political ones, followed by weeks of sheltering from U.S. and Israeli bombardment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have never sought war. But if they try to win what they failed to win on the battlefield through talks, that\u2019s absolutely unacceptable,\u201d Mohammad Bagher Karami said in Tehran.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the region, airstrikes calmed over the past day except in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
More questions as Israel presses ahead in Lebanon<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s 10-point proposal for the talks called for a halt to Israeli strikes on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has said the ceasefire did not apply there, but Iran and Pakistan said it did.<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited parts of southern Lebanon under Israeli control on Sunday, for the first time since the current fighting. Attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside the ground invasion renewed after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in the war\u2019s opening days.<\/p>\n
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington after Israel\u2019s surprise announcement authorizing talks despite their lack of official relations. Israel wants Lebanon to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, but the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.<\/p>\n
The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to the Health Ministry.<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s state-run National News Agency reported six people were killed Sunday in Maaroub village near the coastal city of Tyre.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Boak from Miami and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing; Collin Binkley and Ben Finley in Washington; Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Brian Melley in London; Ghaya Ben MBarek in Tunis; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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