The U.S. military moved to tighten pressure on Iran after ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement, with President Donald Trump and U.S. Central Command warning of a blockade affecting Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Sunday the U.S. Navy would “swiftly” begin the blockade following the talks, and CENTCOM set a start time of Monday at 10 a.m. EDT (5:30 p.m. in Iran), describing it as “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations.”
In its announcement, CENTCOM said the blockade would cover all Iranian ports, but it also said ships traveling between non-Iranian ports would still be allowed to transit the strait. The arrangement appeared to step down from Trump’s earlier threat to blockade the entire strait, according to the report, because it left a pathway open for traffic as long as it avoided Iranian ports.
Trump framed the effort as a way to weaken Iran’s leverage in the war, arguing that he wanted Iran to reopen the strait to global traffic. The report said that before fighting began, about 20% of global oil transited through the waterway, and it said marine trackers showed more than 40 commercial ships had crossed the strait since the ceasefire began.
The U.S. blockade warning also carried potential market consequences. The report said oil prices rose in early trading after the announcement, with U.S. crude up 8% to $104.24 a barrel and Brent crude up 7% to $102.29 a barrel. It also noted that Brent crude cost roughly $70 per barrel before the war began in late February.
The ceasefire talks that ended without a deal were described as the highest-level negotiations between the longstanding rivals since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, held over 21 hours in Pakistan. The report said neither side indicated what would happen after the ceasefire expires on April 22, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance said, “We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon,” in comments to Fox News.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iranian negotiators could not agree to all U.S. “red lines.” The report listed the red lines as including Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon; ending uranium enrichment; dismantling major enrichment facilities; allowing retrieval of Iran’s highly enriched uranium; opening the Strait of Hormuz; and ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels.
Iran’s position was that talks broke down over two or three issues, which Iranian officials blamed on what they called U.S. overreach. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the Iranian parliament speaker who led Iran’s side in the talks, said it was time for the United States “to decide whether it can gain our trust or not.” In a separate statement after returning to Iran, Qalibaf also told Trump, “If you fight, we will fight,” drawing on the report’s account of Iran’s warning tone.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard later said the strait remained under Iran’s “full control” and that it would keep the waterway open for non-military vessels, while military ships would receive a “forceful response,” the report said, citing two semi-official Iranian news agencies. The report also said Iran denied a U.S. military claim during the talks that two destroyers had transited the strait ahead of mine-clearing work.
The report included wider diplomatic reactions as the ceasefire uncertainty lingered. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country would try to facilitate a new dialogue in coming days, and Iran said it was open to continuing dialogue, according to IRNA. The report said the European Union urged further diplomatic efforts, Oman’s foreign minister called for parties to “make painful concessions,” and the Kremlin said Vladimir Putin “emphasized his readiness” to help bring about a diplomatic settlement in a call with Iran’s president.
While the focus remained on Iran, other parts of the region featured parallel developments. The report said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited parts of southern Lebanon under Israeli control on Sunday, and that negotiations between Israel and Lebanon were expected to begin Tuesday in Washington after Israel authorized talks despite the lack of official relations. It also said Israel has asserted that the ceasefire does not apply in Lebanon, while Iran and Pakistan said it does, and noted that the day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel struck Beirut, killing more than 300 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.