UPDATE: Trump’s plan for a full naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has been dropped as the U.S. will instead only block ships departing Iranian ports, writes Joe Lauria.
Chabahar Port on Iran’s southern coast southeast of the Strait of Hormuz. (Ksardar1359/Wikimedia Commons)
Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12
Updated to clarify that only ships from non-Iranian ports will be allowed to exit the Gulf, according to U.S. Central Command.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Donald Trump’s early morning social media post saying the U.S. would impose a full naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz was revised later Sunday by U.S. Central Command to a blockade only of ships departing Iranian ports.
Ships entering or leaving Hormuz will not be hindered unless they are “entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas” U.S. Central Command said Sunday night. The partial blockade began at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday. One Iranian tanker that had departed an Iranian port reportedly defied the blockade.
U.S. “forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” the command said in a social media post. It is not known at this point how far from the Iranian coast U.S. ships would be positioned to enforce the blockade.
Except for a ship that was turned away from the strait on Sunday by the Iranian navy, U.S. warships are now hundreds of kilometers from Iran outside its ballistic missile range.
Centcom said however that it would begin an operation to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran said it would repel.
The largest Iranian port on the coast south of the strait is Chabahar Port, Iran’s only major port on the Indian Ocean.
An annual trade volume of about 3 million tons passes through the port, almost exclusively non-petroleum products like wheat and other agricultural goods, machinery, textiles, mineral products and fertilizer.
The port serves India and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 12, 2026
Trump’s Initial ‘Decree’
Trump had initially written on his Truth Social at 8:52 a.m. EDT that he intended to impose a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to prevent ships from entering or leaving the Persian Gulf.
Trump made the call hours after peace talks collapsed in Pakistan partially over the disputed waterway. Iran took control of the strait after the U.S.-Israeli unprovoked attack on Iran on Feb. 28 and has begun charging tolls to be paid in Chinese currency on ships it lets through.
Iran is only blocking ships of its enemies and their allies. Trump had written:
“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. … 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. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL.”
Such a blockade could target China, as Iran is allowing ships with oil bound for China to pass through the strait. They may still be
Trump wrote that “the Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION.”
Trump’s initial post on Hormuz blockade, (Click to enlarge.)
It is not clear if other nations will be taking part in the new target of the U.S. blockade.
Britain held a virtual meeting with 40 nations on Thursday about opening the strait and afterward British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not rule out military action, however there is no indication that he was referring to a naval blockade.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday in what was reported have been a very contentious encounter. Trump has been furious with NATO for not sending its ships to open the strait, which was only closed because Trump attacked Iran without informing NATO ahead of time.
The legality of such a blockade would be in question as it cannot be imposed by a country waging an illegal war of aggression. The U.S. and Israel never obtained a U.N. Security Council authorization to use force against Iran. (Nor did Trump obtain Congressional authorization). And the U.S. has made no plausible argument of acting in self defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.
Trump ended his post with this threat. He is right about one thing. Khomeini is dead. He died in 1989.
“Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country. Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khomeini, and most of their ‘Leaders,’ are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition. 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! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Collapse of the Talks
Vance addresses press after collapse of talks in Islamabad. (White House)
Earlier on Sunday U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance left Islamabad without a permanent ceasefire agreement with Iran, claiming that Tehran refused to give a guarantee that it would not seek a nuclear weapon.
“We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance told a press conference after the talks collapsed.
“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 just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms,” Vance said.
? BREAKING CEASEFIRE UPDATES ?
“We are disappointed with how US behaved. Netanyahu’s call to Vance during the meeting shifted the focus from US-Iran negotiations to Israel’s interests. The U.S. tried to achieve at the negotiating table what it could not achieve through war. We… pic.twitter.com/XzidROUfG4
— gulvinder (@rebelliousdogra) April 12, 2026
Even David Sanger of The New York Times was somewhat incredulous at that statement:
“Vance’s statement that they need an ‘affirmative commitment’ not to build a nuclear weapon was odd, given that Iran has often made that commitment, including in writing under the 2015 nuclear accord with the Obama administration.”
The fatwa against developing the bomb decreed by the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not been lifted by his son who succeeded him as supreme leader.
Sanger thinks Vance’s emphasis on Iran not seeking “the tools” to enrich quickly to a weapon “is likely the key element to what is blocking an agreement.”
He wrote:
“That would require Iran to commit to never to enrich uranium and to turn over its current stockpile of nuclear fuel, starting with the 970 pounds of near-bomb-grade uranium, stored largely at Isfahan. Without those concessions — no stockpile and no enrichment on Iranian soil — the two sides appear to remain at odds.”
The Times and the Financial Times both reported that the other sticking point was opening the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said in his post “the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not.”
However, it is very unlikely that the only points not agreed to were Hormuz and the nuclear issue and that the U.S. agreed to several of the other eight points of Iran’s 10-point peace proposal. Are we to believe the U.S. agreed to remove its troops from the region, especially now that Trump has declared this blockade?
Iran’s Reaction
???? Iran released footage of the IRGC Navy warning two U.S destroyers to turn away from the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, or risk being targeted.
As expected, the U.S carried on, Iran threatened they were about to launch an attack on them, nothing happened.
Wise move Iran, you… https://t.co/XwL9ApXBw4 pic.twitter.com/UhOAIwaA0l
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 12, 2026
Iranian released video showing IRGC Navy warning to U.S. warship.
Iran reacted to Trump’s post about the blockade, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy saying on X that a wrong move by the U.S. and its allies would plunge them “into a deadly whirlpool of destruction in the Strait.”
After two U.S. warships tried to enter the Strait as the Islamabad talks were getting underway, the IRGC Navy issued statements warning of a “firm and decisive response” to any military vessels attempting to transit or interfere in the Strait of Hormuz.
At the end the talks, the head of Iran’s delegation, Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said:
“Before the negotiations, I emphasized that we have the necessary good faith and will, but due to the experiences of the two previous wars, we have no trust in the opposing side. My colleagues on the Iranian delegation raised forward-looking initiatives, but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations. America has understood our logic and principles, and now it’s time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not.”
Iran’s Fars News Agency reported on Sunday that “a knowledgeable source” said Iran had “raised reasonable initiatives and proposals in the negotiations,” and that the U.S. must “examine the issues with a realistic approach.” The source said the U.S. “has so far been mistaken in its calculations of the negotiations, just as it failed in its military calculations.”
The report said Iran “has no urgency” and that “as long as the U.S. does not agree to a reasonable agreement – there will be no change in the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
A separate source said the U.S. “sought an excuse to leave the negotiating table” even though the U.S. “needed the negotiations to restore its image damaged on the international stage.”
Multiple Western media outlets are reporting that the direct meeting between Vance and Ghalibaf was highest level U.S.-Iranian meeting since the 1979 revolution. Secretary of State John Kerry met several times with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as they negotiated the JPCOA nuclear deal in 2014.
What’s Next
That same source said Iran “has no plan for another round of negotiations.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan told CBS News on Sunday, “The talks are not dead. There’s a stalemate.”
Vance said nothing about whether there would be another around during the two week ceasefire. However, Trump’s post about a blockade has opened a new dynamic that could easily lead to a resumption of the war.
Lebanon in Flames
Lebanon has remained a flashpoint in the negotiations and on the ground. Iran and Pakistan insisted that the Israeli front against Lebanon was part of the ceasefire and Iran threatened not to take part in the talks if it was not.
The New York Times reported that the U.S. agreed, having edited the statement that Pakistan put out announcing the truce, which included Lebanon. But when Israel got wind it they kicked up a fuss until the U.S. starting saying Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire.
That nearly derailed the Islamabad talks. Iran insisted the U.S. tell Israel to stop attacking Lebanon where on Wednesday it killed more than 300 people and wounded more than a thousand in a single day.
Iran framed its demand as a test to see if Trump controlled Netanyahu or the other way around. In the end it appears the U.S. got Israel to stop bombing Beirut and restrict its attacks to the south of Lebanon. That allowed the talks to proceed.
Israel also said it would meet in Washington with Lebanon’s U.S. ambassador to discuss the war and the disarmament of Hezbollah. This is a pure P.R. maneuver by Israel. Israel is not at war with the Lebanese government which also wants to disarm Hezbollah. However the Lebanese Army is too weak to do so so the Washington meeting will be about cooperating toward the same military goal, not talks to end the war.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report neglected to include that ships leaving from Iranian ports inside the Gulf and exiting the Strait of Hormuz would also be subject to the U.S. blockade.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
This post does more to clarify the specifics of the US blockade than anything I have read so far. Other sources give the mistaken impression that the CENTCOM position was a supplement, rather than a curtailment of the original presidential pronouncement. Thanks.
The u.s.- “elites” (including the zionists of what is still called ‘israel’) lie, cheat, steal and mass murder.
Always, and for many decades already!
Under no given circumstances to be trusted.
I don’t believe a word the US says. What were the two US ships trying to do in the strait? What will they do if they try to enter? If they say they are de-mining, I don’t believe it. Are they laying mines? What else?
Thank You Joe
Trump is merely the entertainment here. High Banking Command calls the shots.
Please give us more details on how Trump was overruled. Was it by Congress? Another nation’s leader? His own staff?
Centcom. The article is clear. It is in the first paragraph.
Vance receiving a call (and one must assume instructions) from the Israeli PM during negotiations is frankly embarrassing. If Vance had any backbone or integrity he would have refused to take the call. If we needed any more proof who is in charge here, this is it.
its amazing how the zionists now have complete control over US foreign policy in M.E., ever since 1963. The orange oatcake is a gift from the old testament to Israel’s extreme , right wing , evangeleist regime, and their greater israel ambition, where its obvious they have severe leverage on him. Added to the immense power of Aipac and myriad other israeli lobbyists, where most politicians have to get their backing in order to gain a seat in the Senate. Having surrounded himself with unqualified , sychophantic zionists , and Stephen Miller and his neocons lurking in the background, donnie is directed to do bibi’s bidding , even getting calls during the talks in Islamabad.
the only way to stop further damage , and escalation , is to ensure a huge vote against trump in november, and remove all his corrupt colleagues from Congress, and then reenact Amendment 25 to incarcerate donnie. Unless he starts ww3 and nukes iran, or israel does.
“We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms,” Vance said.
Merely endorsing the sad fact that untried war criminals get to dictate the terms.
Trump’s belligerence and aggression is having an impact on millions around the world, most of whom never voted for him, and would wish he’d simply go away.
It really is way past time for US citizens to reclaim their fragile democracy, the rest of the world depends upon it.
How will the US military blockade ports when Iranian missiles have forced their ships to flee hundreds of miles from the coast?
The USA can intercept ships far away from Iran. In the ocean today there is no place to hide a cargo ship.
Even if the US has the ships to pursue those cargo vessels, intercepting them would be simple piracy on the high seas.
That is correct. But what difference does it make where said piracy occurs?
Trump is trapped. If he backs down Netanyhu will leak Epstein’s Trump videos. If he doesn’t back down the accelerated demise of the US (not to mention global collateral damage…) will be Trump’s legacy (and in fact already is).
All just to prevent the release of proof of what everybody already knows. It’s a Shakespearean tragic farce.
[Cue Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows”]
Agreed : It is increasingly obvious trump is under the thumb of Netanyahu who will release compromising pedophilia info that will be hard, if not impossible to ignore. And of course he will declare the upcoming elections “irregular, try to seize the ballots, and declare Himself winner (by a landslide!). We need to remove him BEFORE he can set his > 20,000 weaponized ICE goons on the polls protected by a deceitful DOJ stealing our liberty, country, money.
What videos would those be? Maybe they are kept in the same vault with the video of Trump being pissed on by Russian prostitutes. Remember that?
Perhaps President Donald Trump will speak to and convince Ms. Amanda Ungaro of Brazil to come in as the Trump administration’s lead peace negotiator, and arrange for her to take over for Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner. Apparently, Ms. Ungaro knows President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump very well.
Why would he do that? The US does not want peace; it wants to destroy or greatly reduce Iran and cripple China. This is not exactly a secret. The US does not negotiate, certainly not to compromise what it sees as its God-given right to rule the world.
Are the leaders of Lebanon intent on turning over southern Lebanon to Israel?
Yes. Even “sycophant” seems too flattering a title for Lebanon’s prime minister.
Thus, it appears that Iran learned that at the very best Israel will only partially obey any ceasefire agreements, and to get even that will require constant pressure on Orange Hair the Pirate to keep Israel on even a partial chain. Otherwise, Trump’s first instinct is still to break the deals any time Israel objects to any part of it.
Now, how much is that really worth to Iran?
Orange Hair the Pirate.
The pirate fleet gathers offshore, eager with a taste for blood, and desperate to seize more bounty to save the failing pirate economy.
Palantir Vance was not negotiating with any real muscle.
Apparently he had to call Trump a dozen times and even called Netanyahu during the negotiating session with the Iranian delegation in Islamabad.
It should be noted that every member of the Iranian delegation has a PhD while Washington sent primarily Jewish supremacist NYC real estate jagoffs.
regarding PhDs: didn’t vance even claim: “the professors are the enemy”?
It’s not up to Trump. It is up to Iran. I’m heartily sick of Trump and his fascist thugs and their assumption that they have the right to dictate ANYTHING.
Surely Trump and his fascist thugs’ assumption they have the right to dictate ANYTHING obviously is more than mere assumption, it entails having the actual POWER of force to carry through despite established precedent of any laws.
Isn’t this precisely what dictatorship IS, until it is brought down by countervailing force?
Isn’t Iran’s resistance today a representation of what an attempt to countervail this too long enduring hegemonic force looks like; what is being witnessed today, in all of its criminal savagery, by the world at large?
Oh yippie! now we have a double blockade – but Trump’s beautiful blockade is bigger and better than Iran’s. In the meantime, the last ship that left hormuz has been unloaded in rotterdam.
A child playing with fire, unless physically restrained WILL get burned, only difference being that this sick child has his finger on the button of the ultimate holocaust and there are no grownup’s near his personal sandbox to intervene; preventing him from directly causing a world ending conflagration.
In fact, his greedy plutocratic peers are egging him on, consequences be damned..
Is this statement too dramatic?
Trump controls the US public narrative. The Iranians have been militarily defeated, their peace offer was just a loser’s wish list, we have unlimited weapons supplies and our Hormuz blockade is appropriate. Should US forces be attacked Trump will scream a narrative of the Iranians as unhinged violators of peace who can only be stopped by violence. This would be the violence forced upon him by the justified outrage of the American people. The consummate gas-lighting murderer.
I don’t see that working well. Geesus he has gone to zero right fast.
No. You’re right.
Take that you scallywaggers.
Cut off my nose to spite your face.
Me no oil , you no oil.
Does anyone sense a crack in the east-west pipelines future .
Just floating a pinprick question
While tied to a helium filled balloon .
Will Iran be the only one using AI blimps now ?
Are they, like the song, sittin on a sack of seeds ?
Looks like Trump’s armada is about to be blown out of the water.
If he had any brains he would sail away, but of course he does not.
Things are about to get ugly.
Bibi will decide when Trump can sail away.
The negotiation was meant not to work. Simple.
Absolutely.
Trump is floundering, and his closest advisors are idiots.
Yep.