Washington (United States) (AFP) – President Donald Trump ordered the US Navy on Sunday to block the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, furious with Iran’s refusal to surrender its nuclear ambitions after peace talks in Pakistan broke down without an agreement. In response to Trump’s announcement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they had traffic in the strategic waterway under their full control and would trap any enemy who tried to challenge it “in a deadly vortex”.
In a lengthy declaration on his social media platform, Trump said his eventual goal was to clear the strait of mines and reopen it to all shipping, but that in the meantime Iran must not be allowed to profit from its control of the waterway. “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. “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”
Iran has itself been restricting traffic through the strait — a key route for global shipments of oil, gas and fertiliser — while allowing vessels deemed to be working for friendly countries, such as China, to pass. There have been unconfirmed reports that Tehran plans to charge tolls. “THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION,” Trump said. “I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. 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.”
The US military had said Saturday that two Navy warships transited through the strait to begin clearing it of mines and ensure it was a “safe pathway” for tankers, a claim denied by Tehran. Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Sunday that two Pakistani-flagged oil tankers heading for the strait had turned around. Fears of renewed fighting rattled an already tense region after the US-Iran talks collapsed. “I am worried about the continuation of the situation and the return of attacks again,” said Imam, an Egyptian housewife living in UAE capital Abu Dhabi. “I was making a great effort not to pass my tension on to the children.”
– ‘Act of extortion’ –
Trump later in a Fox News interview again threatened Iran’s energy infrastructure, before warning he would impose a 50 percent tariff on Chinese imports if Beijing tried to help the Iranian military. “I could take out Iran in one day. I could have their entire energy everything, every one of their plants, their electric generating plants, which is a big deal,” he said. The president’s latest ultimatum appeared to have been triggered by the failure of talks to secure a deal to end the six-week-old war, which began when the US and Israel launched strikes on Tehran and killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s refusal to give up its right to a nuclear programme frustrated the US delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance, White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. “I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” Trump said. “The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade,” he added, without specifying. Experts said blocking the crucial waterway in the middle of a two-week ceasefire, after the Islamabad negotiations, would further erode America’s global credibility.
“Imposing a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz right now — even if it’s implementable, which remains an open question — is bewildering and seems self-defeating,” said Shibley Telhami, a professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland. Vance left Pakistan after the talks — the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution — and warned that Washington had made Tehran its “final and best offer” for a deal, adding: “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the head of his country’s negotiating team, said he had “put forward constructive initiatives” but the US team did not win Iran’s trust.
– Ceasefire efforts –
The failure of the talks will raise concerns that a return to fighting could drive world energy prices higher and further damage shipping and oil and gas facilities. Pakistan, which hosted the talks, urged both countries to continue respecting the temporary truce. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, and both leaders agreed it “was vital there was a continuation of the ceasefire, and that all parties avoided any further escalation”.
An EU spokesman said diplomacy would be “essential” to securing peace and hailed Pakistan’s mediation efforts, while Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to offer his services to the diplomatic effort. “Vladimir Putin emphasised his readiness to further facilitate the search for a political and diplomatic settlement to the conflict, and to mediate efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said, in its readout of the call.
© 2024 AFP
