President Trump on Sunday announced plans to blockade the Strait of Hormuz after negotiations in Pakistan to end the Iran war collapsed.
“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 post on Truth Social. “The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION.”
The president said the blockade will be enforced in an effort to stop Iran from policing the strait to its economic benefit while other countries suffer.
“At some point, we will reach an ‘ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT’ basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, ‘There may be a mine out there somewhere,’ that nobody knows about but them,” he said. “THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.”
He additionally said the U.S. Navy will “seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran.”
Iran has imposed a toll on vessels passing through the strait and has limited oil exports. It has allowed only a handful of countries, including China and India, to pass through the strait.
“Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they knowingly failed to do so…as they promised, they better begin the process of getting this INTERNATIONAL WATERWAY OPEN AND FAST!” he wrote.
“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,” he said.
Ahead of the 21-hour negotiation that began Saturday, Trump announced a two-week cease-fire on Tuesday evening, contingent upon the country agreeing to the “complete, immediate, and safe opening” of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s cease-fire announcement came less than 90 minutes before a deadline he had imposed on Iran to reopen the strait. Earlier on Tuesday, the president threatened to “wipe out” an entire civilization if Iran did not open the strait by his deadline.
“We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate,” he said Tuesday evening. “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran.”
But Trump on Sunday said that while negotiations, which involved Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, “went well” and “most points were agreed to” that there was no agreement on the nuclear issue, which was the “only point that really mattered.”
Iranian negotiators “were very unyielding” about the nuclear program, he said. “IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!” Trump added.
But he told Fox News he expects the Iranians will ultimately come back to the negotiating table and give the U.S. “everything” it wants.