(AP) - President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy would swiftly begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement.
U.S. Central Command announced that it will blockade all Iranian ports beginning Monday at 10 a.m. EDT, or 5:30 p.m. in Iran.
CENTCOM said the blockade will be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations.” It said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier in the day, the United States and Iran ended 21 hours of face-to-face talks in Islamabad without reaching a deal, leaving the fate of the fragile, two-week ceasefire still unclear.
The war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets has entered its seventh week.
US Central Command to blockade Iranian ports
U.S. Central Command has announced that it will begin a blockade of Iranian ports on Monday at 10 a.m. ET.
CENTCOM said the blockade would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations” entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.
It said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
In its statement, CENTCOM said the blockade would include all Iranian ports. It said it would give more information to commercial vessels before the start of the blockade.
US official says Iran could not agree to America’s red lines for ending the war
U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s goal in the talks with Iran was to outline America’s red lines and where there was room to negotiate. But Iran’s delegates could not agree to all of the stated red lines.
That’s according to a U.S. official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe negotiating positions on the record.
The core objective for U.S. negotiators was that Iran never obtain a nuclear weapon. But there were additional red lines set by the U.S. that Iran objected to, the official said.
The red lines include Iran ending uranium enrichment, dismantling its major enrichment facilities, allowing retrieval of its highly enriched uranium, ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, creating a broader framework for peace and security in the region, and opening the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. believes that blockading the strait will show Iran the limits of its leverage as it considers the offer, the official said.
__ By Josh Boak