WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The U.S. military said it will begin a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas on Monday, after weekend talks failed to reach a deal to end the war with Iran, jeopardizing a fragile two-week ceasefire.
The talks in Islamabad, which ran from Saturday into early Sunday, were the first direct U.S.-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The negotiations came days after a ceasefire began on Tuesday, aimed at ending six weeks of fighting that has killed thousands of people across the Gulf, throttled vital supplies of energy and sparked fears of a wider regional conflict.
The U.S. Central Command said that the U.S. blockade, starting at 10 a.m. ET on Monday (1400 GMT), 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.”
Vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports will not be impeded, the U.S. military said. Additional information would be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice prior to the start of the blockade, it said.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday U.S. forces would also 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,” Trump wrote on social media, adding: “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”
He added that the U.S. Navy will begin destroying mines that the Iranians had dropped in the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for about 20% of global energy supplies.
While shipping data showed three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the Strait on Saturday, tankers were steering clear of the waterway on Monday, ahead of the U.S. blockade.
Benchmark crude oil prices surged more than 7% to top $100 per barrel in Monday morning trade in Asia, while the dollar jumped and U.S. stock futures fell following the blockade announcement.
“Trump wants a quick fix,” said Dana Stroul, a former senior Pentagon official during the Biden administration now at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The reality is, this mission is difficult to execute alone and likely unsustainable over the medium to long-term.”
After Trump’s initial remarks on Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards warned that military vessels approaching the strait will be considered a ceasefire breach and dealt with harshly and decisively, underlining the risk of a dangerous escalation.
A U.S. official said Iran rejected Washington’s call for an end to all uranium enrichment, the dismantling of all major enrichment facilities and the transfer of highly enriched uranium.
Iran also refused U.S. demands that Iran cease funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as well as fully open the Strait of Hormuz, the official added.
