Donald Trump has ordered the US navy to impose a full blockade on the Strait of Hormuz following the breakdown of peace talks with Iran after a marathon meeting in Pakistan.
“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” the US president stated in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
“We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid on the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”
Trump was attending an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in Miami on Saturday night, along with his secretary of state Marco Rubio, when US vice-president JD Vance decided to conclude what had been the highest level direct US-Iranian talks for half a century.
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A clearly frustrated Vance exited the negotiations with Iranian officials, held in Islamabad and brokered by Pakistan, after 20 hours. While he made few comments, it was apparent that the breakdown hinged on the future capacity of Iran to develop a nuclear capability.
[ Why did Trump choose Vance to negotiate difficult peace talks with Iran?Opens in new window ]
“We’ve made very clear what our red lines are,” Vance told reporters before leaving Pakistan, “and what things we’re willing to accommodate them on. They have chosen not to accept our terms.”
Trump confirmed that in his social media post and, in a later phone interview with Fox News, he elaborated on the purpose of the blockade, saying it was to place a chokehold on Tehran’s access to oil revenues.
“It’s called all in and all out. There’ll be a time when we’ll have them all come in and all come out. But it won’t be a percentage, it won’t be a friend of yours like a country that’s your ally,” he said.
“We’re not gonna let Iran make money selling oil to people that they like and not people that they don’t like. You saw what we did with Venezuela. It will be something similar to that but at a higher level.”
[ Faced with an untrustworthy US, Europe must make bold diplomatic movesOpens in new window ]
The talks breakdown leaves the US at an impasse similar to that of late February, when Trump decided the Islamic Republic’s negotiators were acting in bad faith and entered into a sustained bombing attack with Israel.
The prospects of Vance – a conspicuous outlier in the Trump cabinet in his opposition to the war – achieving an immediate breakthrough were considered slim to begin with.
Now the White House must decide whether to continue with military operations which have simultaneously damaged and emboldened the Iranian regime or to push for further lengthy negotiations.
Trump’s blockade will have the immediate effect of intensifying the unprecedented pressure and chaos on international fuel and energy requirements as well as the global economy.
