Negotiations in Islamabad on Saturday and Sunday (11-12 April) failed to produce meaningful peace terms between the United States and Iran. Vance claimed that a deal failed to materialise after the Iranians refused to accept American terms to refrain from developing a nuclear weapon.
Leading the United States’ negotiating party was Vice President JD Vance, along with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner. Iran’s negotiating party in Islamabad was headed by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliamentary speaker, and Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister.
Immediately after the negotiations, US President Donald Trump took to Truth Social, and announced that the United States Navy will begin blockading the Strait of Hormuz, interdict vessels linked to Iranian tolls, and remove suspected mines, while warning of further military escalation if Iran did not comply.
US Central Command announced that the blockade would begin on Monday at 10AM EDT (4PM CET), and 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.”
CENTCOM said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the strait, a step down from the president’s earlier threat to blockade the entire strait.
Excerpt from Trump’s post on Truth Social:
“I have also instructed our 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. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL! Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country.”
Source: commonspace.eu with the Associated Press and The Guardian
