Trump Says US Will Block Strait Of Hormuz As US-Iran Talks Fails

Catenaa, Sunday, April 12, 2026- US President Donald Trump said the US would blockade the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of peace talks with Iran in Islamabad.

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said in a social media post.

Vice President JD Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner left the region Sunday after 21 hours of negotiations with top Iranian officials, mediated by Pakistan, in an effort to end the six-week-old war. 

The talks’ collapse left the ceasefire clinched last week in limbo, and Trump’s post signals more peril for the deal.

Iran’s semi-official media cited “excessive” US demands, while the foreign ministry said it was natural that differences wouldn’t be resolved in a single round of talks, leaving the door open for more discussions.

Trump said Iran’s possible mining of the key waterway, which normally accounts for about a fifth of the world’s global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, and their demands for tolls to ensure safe passage, is “WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.”

The president also widened his threat to international waters, saying the US Navy would interdict any vessel that had paid Iran’s toll and that “no one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.”

“We have been at it now for 21 hours, and we’ve had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians. That’s the good news,” he said in a press conference following the talks. “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement.” Vice President JD Vance said early ⁠on Sunday in ‌Pakistan.

The key sticking point, Vance said, was on the issue of Iran’s unwillingness to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“We 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,” he said, noting it is the “core goal” that President Donald Trump hoped to achieve with the negotiations. “They have chosen not to accept our terms.”

The vice president said he spoke with Trump “a half dozen times, a dozen times, over the past 21 hours,” as well as with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Admiral Brad Cooper, Head of the US Central Command.