Trump: U.S. Will Blockade Strait of Hormuz, End Off Iran As a result of Peace Talks Failed

President Trump announced this morning that the U.S. Navy will block the Strait of Hormuz because peace talks between Iran and a team of American negotiators led by Vice President J.D. Vance have failed.

After almost a full day of discussion, Vance told the media yesterday, his team left Iran without an agreement that would end the U.S.-Israeli war against the country.

Iran refused to bow to the “core” U.S. demand that it not build a nuclear weapon or attempt to attain the capability to build one.

So this morning, Trump said, the Navy will stop ships from passing through the strait, destroy any mines Iran has deployed, then “finish up the little that is left of Iran.”

Talks in Pakistan

Vance and his team included Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. They landed in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday after Israel attempted to torpedo the two-week ceasefire in the war by attacking Lebanon. Israel hopes to conquer Lebanese territory up to the Litani River.

The talks came days after The New York Times revealed that Trump fell for a pack of preposterous claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a briefing in the White House situation room. The Times revealed that Trump ordered the attack on Iran against Vance’s firm advice.

“In front of his colleagues, Mr. Vance warned Mr. Trump that a war against Iran could cause regional chaos and untold numbers of casualties. It could also break apart Mr. Trump’s political coalition and would be seen as a betrayal by many voters who had bought into the promise of no new wars,” the Times revealed:.

Mr. Vance raised other concerns, too. As vice president, he was aware of the scope of America’s munitions problem. A war against a regime with enormous will for survival could leave the United States in a far worse position to fight conflicts for some years.

After nearly 24 hours of talks with the Iranians, Vance said, they refused to forswear nuclear weapons.

Substantive Discussions

“We’ve been at it now for 21 hours, and we’ve had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians,” Vance said at a news conference before leaving Pakistan.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America. So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement.

Vance said his team clarified “red lines” and what the United States would and would not accommodate from Iran. “We’ve made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms,” Vance said.

Vance did not divulge details of the talks, but said the United States must “see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable him to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.”

“That is the core goal of the president of the United States, and that’s what we would try to achieve through these negotiations,” Vance continued:

Again, their nuclear program, such as it is, the enrichment facilities that they had before, they’ve been destroyed. But the simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon, not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long-term. We haven’t seen that yet, we hope that we will.

Iran Unwilling

Vance reiterated that the two sides discussed “a number of issues,” but that Iran was unwilling to “accept our terms.”

“I think that we were quite flexible,” Vance said:

We were quite accommodating. The President told us you need to come here in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal. We did that. And unfortunately, we were unable to make any headway. 

Vance said he and his team spoke “consistently” to the president and his national security team, including Secretaries of State and Defense Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, throughout the negotiations.

“We leave here with a very simple proposal,” Vance said, “a method of understanding that is our final and best offer.”

“War with Iran, a war we should not even be fighting, is back on,” former GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X:

Lord have mercy on the innocent.

Trump Closes Strait of Hormuz

Reacting to the failure of talks this morning, Trump announced that the U.S. Navy will blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had closed the strait when attacked by the United States and Israel, then briefly opened it, then reclosed it when Israel attacked Lebanon.

Trump also confirmed what Taylor Greene predicted on X. The war will continue. The United States, Trump said, might destroy Iran.

“The meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not,” Trump wrote of Vance’s effort in Pakistan:

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. 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. THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted. 

The Navy will interdict vessels in international waters that have paid a toll to Iran for passage through the strait, Trump warned, and toll-paying ships will not have safe passage. Any mines Iran deployed in the strait will be destroyed, Trump said, as will Iran. 

“Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION,” Trump concluded:

They want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear. Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully “LOCKED AND LOADED,” and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!

In a second post this morning, Trump described the peace talks, and reiterated that the two sides agreed on many issues but not Iran’s nuclear ambitions:

IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS! … “IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”