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Trump says U.S. will begin Strait of Hormuz blockade

President Donald Trump announced a blockade to stop ships from entering or leaving, adding that the U.S. was ready to 鈥渇inish up鈥 Iran at the 鈥渁ppropriate moment."

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Altaf Qadri
A UAE navy ship sails next to a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates on March 11, 2026.

President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy would 鈥渋mmediately鈥 begin a blockade to stop ships from entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after聽U.S.-Iran peace talks聽in Pakistan ended without an agreement.

U.S. Central Command announced that it will blockade all Iranian ports beginning Monday at 10 a.m. ET.

CENTCOM said the blockade will be 鈥渆nforced impartially against vessels of all nations.鈥 It said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr. Trump wants to weaken Iran鈥檚 key leverage in聽the war聽after demanding that it reopen the strait to all global traffic on the waterway that was responsible for 20% of global oil shipping before fighting began.

Traffic in the Strait 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.

A U.S. blockade could further rattle聽global energy markets. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be all or none, and that鈥檚 the way it is," Mr. Trump told Fox News.

Mr. Trump said on social media that he told the Navy to "seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.鈥 He said other nations would be involved but did not name them.

Freedom of peaceful navigation聽is a basic principle of international maritime trade.

Mr. Trump also said the U.S. was ready to 鈥渇inish up鈥 Iran at the 鈥渁ppropriate moment," stressing that Tehran's nuclear ambitions were at the core of the failure to end the war.

Face-to-face talks ended earlier Sunday after 21 hours, leaving a fragile two-week ceasefire in doubt.

U.S. officials said the negotiations collapsed over what they described as Iran鈥檚 refusal to commit to abandoning a path to a nuclear weapon, while Iranian officials blamed the U.S. for the breakdown of the talks without specifying the sticking points.

Neither side indicated what will happen after the 14-day ceasefire expires on April 22. Pakistani mediators urged all parties to maintain it. Both said their positions were clear and put the onus on the other side, underscoring how little the gap had narrowed throughout the talks.

鈥淲e 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,鈥 Vice President JD Vance said after the talks.

Iran鈥檚 parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led Iran in the negotiations, said it was time for the United States 鈥渢o decide whether it can gain our trust or not.鈥

He did not mention the core disputes in a series of social media posts, though Iranian officials earlier said the talks fell apart over two or three key issues, blaming what they called U.S. overreach.

Iran has聽long denied seeking nuclear weapons聽but has insisted on its right to a civilian nuclear program. It has offered 鈥渁ffirmative commitments鈥 in the past in writing, including in聽the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. Experts say its stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, it has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. Iran鈥檚 grip on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy,聽sending energy prices soaring.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue between Iran and the U.S. in the coming days.

鈥淚t is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to cease fire,鈥 Mr. Dar said.

The deadlock 鈥 and Vance鈥檚 take-it-or-leave-it proposal that Iran end its nuclear program 鈥 mirrored聽February鈥檚 nuclear talks in Switzerland. Though Mr. Trump has said the subsequent war was meant to compel Iran鈥檚 leaders to abandon nuclear ambitions, each side's positions appeared unchanged in negotiations following six weeks of fighting.

An Iranian diplomatic official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the closed-door talks, denied that negotiations had failed over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

鈥淚ran is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but it has the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,鈥 they said, reiterating Iran's longstanding negotiating position.

There was no word on whether they would resume, though Iran said it was open to continuing the dialogue, Iran鈥檚 state-run IRNA news agency reported.

鈥淲e have never sought war. But if they try to win what they failed to win on the battlefield through talks, that鈥檚 absolutely unacceptable,鈥 Mohammad Bagher Karami said in downtown Tehran.

US moves to shift status quo in Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. and Iran entered talks with sharply different proposals and contrasting assumptions about their leverage to end the war. Before negotiations began, the ceasefire was already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel鈥檚 continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in聽Lebanon.

Iran鈥檚 10-point proposal ahead of the talks called for a guaranteed end to the war and sought control over the Strait of Hormuz. It included ending fighting against Iran鈥檚 鈥渞egional allies,鈥 explicitly calling for a halt to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.

Pakistani officials told The Associated Press in March that the U.S. 15-point proposal included monitoring mechanisms and a rollback of Iran鈥檚 nuclear program. Speaking on condition of anonymity as they weren鈥檛 authorized to discuss details, they said it also covered reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Indeed, Iran鈥檚 closure of the strait has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war.

During the talks, the U.S. military said two destroyers transited the critical waterway ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran鈥檚 state media, however, reported the country's joint military command denied that.

鈥淲e鈥檙e sweeping the strait. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,鈥 Mr. Trump said as talks extended into early Sunday morning.

Israel presses ahead in Lebanon

The impasse raises new questions about fighting in Lebanon. Israel has pressed ahead with strikes since the ceasefire was announced, saying the agreement did not apply there. Iran and Pakistan claimed otherwise.

Lebanon鈥檚 state-run National News Agency reported six people were killed Sunday morning in an Israeli strike in Maaroub, a village near the southern coastal city of Tyre. Though Israel鈥檚 strikes over Beirut have calmed in recent days, its attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside a聽ground invasion聽it renewed after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in the opening days of the Iran war.

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun鈥檚 office has said, after Israel鈥檚 surprise announcement authorizing talks despite the lack of official relations between the countries. Protests erupted in Beirut on Saturday over the planned negotiations.

Israel wants Lebanon's government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a聽November 2024 ceasefire. But the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.

The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel聽pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, according to the country's Health Ministry.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Boak from Miami, and Magdy from Cairo. E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Collin Binkley, and Ben Finley in Washington, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Ghaya Ben MBarek in Tunis contributed.

Editor's note: The first paragraphs of this story were updated on the same day of publication to reflect CENTCOM's announcement of the time the blockade would begin.

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