The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Sunday that his country will block the Strait of Hormuz and accused Iran of maintaining its “nuclear ambitions”, after peace negotiations in Pakistan concluded without an agreement.
Although he affirmed that the talks were satisfactory and that the ceasefire that began on April 8 will remain in force, the Republican assured that he ordered the US Navy to block the sea route.
«The meeting went well, agreement was reached on most points, but the only really important point, nuclear weapons, was not approved. Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the best in the world, will begin blocking all ships attempting to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote on his Truth Social network.
This is Trump’s first reaction since the more than 20-hour negotiations in Islamabad between a delegation from the United States and another from Iran concluded without an agreement this Sunday, the highest level contact between both countries since they broke relations after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
The announcement of the US blockade of the strait comes after Iran has kept this strategic route closed, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, in retaliation for the US and Israeli offensive that began on February 28 against the Islamic republic.
The president stated, without specifying which countries, that other States will participate in blocking the road and also assured that the United States will begin the demining task to remove the maritime mines placed by Iran during this conflict.
Trump also announced that he ordered the Navy to intercept all ships in international waters that have paid a toll to Iran to circulate through the strait, considering that this fee is “illegal.”
«The blockade will begin shortly. Other countries will participate in this blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit from this illegal act of extortion. “They want money and, more importantly, they want nuclear weapons,” he warned.
However, he expressed his confidence that “at some point” an agreement will be reached for free entry and exit through that sea route.
“Any Iranian who shoots at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be destroyed. “Iran knows, better than anyone, how to end this situation that has already devastated its country,” he said.
Although the delegations of the United States and Iran left Islamabad this Sunday, the mediating country, Pakistan, has left the door open to future talks.
The entire US delegation, including Vice President JD Vance and White House special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, left Pakistan for the United States.
The nuclear pitfall
Trump lamented that, despite the meeting lasting almost 20 hours, “Iran is not willing to give up its nuclear ambitions.”
Although he assured that there was enough progress to not continue “military operations” against Iran, he denounced that the Iranian authorities “were very inflexible regarding the most important issue,” in reference to the nuclear issue.
He stated that his negotiators were “friendly” with their Iranian counterparts – including the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf – but stressed that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon” because the atomic bomb cannot be in the hands of an “unpredictable” country.
At least three points, according to American and Iranian sources, have been the main obstacles in this dialogue that began after the two-week truce reached last Wednesday.
The three issues have been the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, over which Iran wants to maintain control; the release of frozen Iranian funds and, on the other hand, Tehran’s nuclear program.
Precisely this last point was what Vance highlighted in a media appearance, indicating that they have not seen a “firm commitment” from Iran to not have a nuclear weapon in the long term.
EFE
