A day after failed peace negotiations between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy will start blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
In back-to-back posts made to social media early Sunday, Trump said the United States will also interdict every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran to pass through the critical shipping route.
“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”
A blockade, which Trump described as “effective immediately,” would be a significant escalation in the Persian Gulf, coming mere hours after U.S.-Iran peace talks ended without a deal. The United States and Iran have been in a tenuous, two-week ceasefire that began on April 7.
Trump attacked Pope Leo in a Truth Social post on Sunday night, calling him “weak” on crime and “terrible” for foreign policy after the religious leader criticized the president’s foreign and immigration policies. Pope Leo, the first American pope, has been an outspoken critic of the war in Iran.
The pope said this month’s threat from Trump to destroy Iranian civilization was “unacceptable,” according to Reuters. He has also called for “deep reflection” about the way migrants are being treated in the United States under the Trump administration.
Shortly after Trump made the Truth Social post, the president spoke to reporters on Sunday night at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job he likes crime I guess,” the president said when asked why he attacked the pope.
− Thao Nguyen
Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that the two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran is “holding well.”
He added that the U.S. Navy blockade will go into effect on Monday, April 13, and that “there are many boats heading toward our country to fill up with oil.”
The president also said other nations were working so that Iran cannot sell oil, but did not specify which countries.
“I think Iran is in very bad shape. I think they’re pretty desperate. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said when asked why he thinks Iran might negotiate.
− Thao Nguyen
In a statement on social media Sunday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on Monday, April 13, at 10 a.m. ET.
The announcement was made after Trump said the U.S. Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” CENTCOM said in the statement. “CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.”
Further information will be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice before the blockade starts, CENTCOM added.
− Thao Nguyen
The dollar jumped against other major currencies in early Asia-Pacific trading on Sunday, as investors sought the relative safety of the U.S. currency after marathon talks between Washington and Tehran failed to yield a peace deal, plunging markets into a seventh week of uncertainty.
Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for 20% of the world’s daily energy supplies that Iran effectively closed since the war started in late February, which has driven oil prices up by over 30% and fueled fears of a widespread surge in inflation.
The dollar, which has acted as a haven given the limited exposure of the United States to imported energy-price inflation, rallied in initial trade, leaving the euro down 0.5% at $1.166 and gaining 0.1% against the Japanese yen to trade at 159.43.
− Reuters
Tucker Carlson called Trump a “slave” to Israel and said his handling of their war on Iran is “awful to watch” as the feud between the two continues to escalate.
“I’ve always liked Trump and still feel sorry for him, as I do for all slaves,” the former Fox News host told Newsmax on Friday.
Carlson doubled down on his interpretation of the president when asked whether he thinks Trump is a “slave to Benjamin Netanyahu” in an interview on the BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” on Sunday.
“I don’t think it is as simple as ‘he is under the control of Netanyahu,’ but you could certainly summarize it that way and you wouldn’t be totally inaccurate,” Carlson said, clarifying he blamed Israel for the U.S. entering the war.
The conflagration came days after Trump called Carlson and other MAGA-aligned critics of the war “low IQ,” irrelevant, and publicity hungry in an April 9 social media post.
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said in a post to X on April 12 that the negotiations were “not an event, but a process,” and praised Pakistan’s role in facilitating the discussions.
“The Islamabad Talks laid the foundation for a diplomatic process that, if trust and will are strengthened, can create a sustainable framework for the interests of all parties,” he wrote.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said on April 12 that the Strait of Hormuz is open for non-military vessels, but threatened any military ships attempting to travel through the waterway.
In a statement to Iranian state media reported by Reuters, the Guards said the strait is under the control and management of Iran’s Navy. The critical shipping route is described by the Guards as “open for the safe passage of non-military vessels in accordance with specific regulations,” Reuters reported.
Any military vessels attempting to approach the strait will be considered a violation of the two-week ceasefire, the statement added.
A U.S. official told USA TODAY that the negotiations fell apart over multiple points, including on uranium enrichment, funding for regional proxy groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz without the establishment of tolls.
The United States and Iran did not reach an agreement on all of those points, which the administration considers red lines, the official said.
The official reiterated that Vice President JD Vance presented what the United States says is its best and final offer, which remains on the table for Iran to consider.
In comments made to social media and in an interview with Fox News on April 12, Trump cast the primary sticking point in the marathon peace negotiations in Islamabad as nuclear-related.
The U.S. official told USA TODAY negotiations also faltered over demands that Iran accept a broad peace and security framework for the region.
− Francesca Chambers and Kathryn Palmer
Trump said the price of oil and gas could remain elevated before the midterm elections in November, hours after in-person peace talks between the United States and Iran failed.
“It could be the same or maybe a little bit higher, but it should be around the same,” Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo in an interview on April 12.
The comment came at a time Americans are worried about affordability, and on the heels of a record 21.2% spike in gasoline prices, the largest monthly increase in recorded history.
− Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, Trump repeated his previous threats of bombing critical Iranian infrastructure such as power plants, bridges, and desalination plants.
“I’m fine with it,” he said of the threats, which brought widespread condemnation from legal experts and human rights groups.
Trump said it “brought them to the table,” referring to Iran and yesterday’s peace negotiations.
Speaking about the future of the war after the talks between the U.S. and Iran failed to produce a resolution, Trump once again raised the possibility of infrastructure strikes.
“The only thing left, really, is their water,” Trump said. “Which would be very devastating to hit. I would hate to do it, but there is water, there are desalination plants. There’s electric generating plants, which are very easy to hit. We could hit them.”
Vance said the United States was unable to reach an agreement to end the war in Iran after a marathon meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, that saw U.S. and Iranian officials meet face-to-face, the first peace talks between the two nations in 47 years. Trump said in one of his April 12 Truth Social posts that the meeting “went well” and that “most points were agreed to,” except the issue of Iran’s nuclear program.
In an interview with Fox News’ program “Sunday Morning Futures” about an hour after his social media posts, Trump spoke about the blockade’s timeline, offering little clarity as to when it will go into effect. He told host Maria Bartiromo it will be a “complete blockade” and it “will take a little while, but it’ll be effective pretty soon.”
The president also said in the 30-minute interview that “numerous countries” will be helping with the blockade, but did not specify which nations will assist and how.
When asked about the possible presence of mines placed in the strait by Iran, Trump said the United States has minesweepers in the area now, suggesting they will be able to knock out the underwater explosives.
The Pentagon and White House referred to the president’s Fox News interview when contacted by USA TODAY for more information about the blockade, including a possible timeline.
Trump had said in a social media post on Saturday, April 11, before the talks began, that the United States is “clearing out” the Strait of Hormuz, though the president and other officials did not release any specific timeline or details of the reopening.
The 100-mile-long waterway connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Before the war, roughly 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas supply passed through the narrow channel.
The concept of tolls has become a contentious issue as the United States and Iran continue to tussle over the strait, which Iran has effectively closed since the joint U.S.-Israeli war began more than six weeks ago. Its closure has left hundreds of tankers trapped in the Gulf, roiled global markets, and led to a surge in energy prices across the globe.
In negotiations, Tehran has demanded control of the Strait of Hormuz, a ceasefire across the region, and the release of its frozen assets abroad, according to Iranian state TV and officials, Reuters reported. Tehran has also raised collecting transit fees for ships passing through the waterway.
Trump has previously said he would oppose any Iran-controlled tolls placed on ships allowed to pass through the chokepoint, and has floated the idea of the United States, instead, charging tolls.
Reuters reported three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on April 11, citing shipping data, in what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the ceasefire deal began last week.
Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her atkapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr. Sign up for her daily politics newsletterhere.