President Trump announced Sunday that the United States will blockade the Strait of Hormuz after nearly 20 hours of peace talks in Islamabad collapsed over Iran’s refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote in a pair of posts on Truth Social.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical oil chokepoints — roughly 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass through the narrow waterway off Iran’s southern coast each day. The war has already sent energy prices surging globally and threatened fuel supplies across Europe, Asia and beyond. European airports warned last week that a “systemic jet fuel shortage” could hit within three weeks if the strait remained closed.
Trump said the talks — which he described as lasting close to 20 hours — reached agreement on most points but broke down on the single issue he said mattered most: Iran’s nuclear program. A source told Axios that another point of contention was control of the Strait of Hormuz.
“There is only one thing that matters — IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!” Trump wrote. “As I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”
Iran’s chief negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, offered his own account of the collapse on X, saying the Iranian delegation entered talks in “good faith” but that the U.S. “failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations.” He stopped short of closing the door entirely. “America has understood our logic and principles,” Qalibaf wrote, “and now it’s time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not.”
Tehran has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, not weapons development. Iran was a signatory to the 2015 nuclear deal, which placed limits on its enrichment activities in exchange for sanctions relief, before the U.S. withdrew from the agreement under President Trump’s first term.
Trump warned that any Iranian who fires at U.S. forces or peaceful vessels “will be BLOWN TO HELL,” and said the U.S. military will begin destroying mines Iran laid in the strait. He also instructed the Navy to “seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran.”
Trump said he had been debriefed by Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on the Islamabad talks, which were facilitated by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir.
“We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance said after the talks.
