Trump announces Strait of Hormuz naval blockade after failing to reach deal with Iran

Iranian soldiers patrol the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran, April 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the U.S. Navy would begin blocking ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz, after peace talks with Iran failed to produce a deal.

"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.

"I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran," Trump continued, adding that "no one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas."

"We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits," he added.

On peace talks, Trump said that the meeting "went well," with most points agreed to, but "the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not."

Trump's remarks came a few hours after U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, concluded without a deal on Sunday.

After Trump's statement on Strait of Hormuz naval blockade, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy Command warned Sunday that any "wrong move" in the Strait of Hormuz would trap its enemies in "deadly whirlpools." ■