“Iran rejected US demand to stop funding proxies, and halt uranium enrichment during talks,” i24, 4-12-26. “During negotiations in Pakistan, a US official told Reuters that the Iranians refused to stop funding Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. They also refused to fully open Hormuz, halt uranium enrichment.”
Let’s all remember that Democratic and Republican administrations have backed the Freedom of Navigation program run by the U.S. Navy. This idea goes all the way back to Hugo Grotius, the Father of International Law, ad then runs through President Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates. See “Trump announces Strait of Hormuz blockade after Iran talks collapse,” Politico, 4-12-26. “In a pair of Truth Social posts, he also said the Navy would intercept any vessel that has paid tolls to Iran to transit the strait safely. … President Donald Trump on Sunday announced a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to destroy “the little that is left of Iran” after peace talks in Islamabad fell apart overnight. In a pair of Truth Social posts, Trump said the U.S. military would begin blockading ships entering or leaving the strait, and would also intercept any vessel that has paid tolls to Iran to transit it safely. He also said that any Iranian who fires on the U.S. military or other, peaceful vessels will be “BLOWN TO HELL” while the Navy works to de-mine the strait. “THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION,” Trump wrote in one of the posts, “and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.” The weekend talks, which were brokered by Pakistan and represented the highest level engagement between an American official and Iranians since the 1979 Islamic revolution, were aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming the flow of roughly a fifth of the world’s oil through it. Reopening the strait has become an economic imperative for Trump, whose approval ratings have sagged amid spiking oil prices and growing anxiety about the war’s toll on an already turbulent global economy. But the talks ended early Sunday morning without movement on the question Trump said rendered the rest of the discussion moot. “They have chosen not to accept our terms,” Vice President JD Vance told reporters in Islamabad before departing for Washington. “The simple fact is that 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.”
Surely CNN must understand you have to close the strait in order to open it. Clearing the mines, Clearing Iran. See “Why Trump is threatening to blockade a strait that Iran is already blockading,” CNN, 4-12-26.
I hope that some intrepid reporter will run with the story of whether Ghalibaf, who let’s the Parliament chant “Death to America,” can be trusted. He has a long track record that could be reported. See “Iran’s Top Negotiator Says Talks Failed Because U.S. Failed to Win Trust,” NYT, 4-12-26.
“Trump Warns China Of ‘Big Problems’—But Here’s How China And Russia Could Be Helping Iran,” Forbes, 4-12-26.
“How Iran is using executions to crush dissent,” CBC, 4-12-26.
The Iran leaders who came to Islamabad didn’t feel enough pressure to give up anything. “Control of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s Uranium Stockpiles Were Sticking Points,” NYT, 4-12-26. “The meeting between Mr. Vance and Mr. Ghalibaf was the highest-level face-to-face engagement between representatives of Iran and the United States since diplomatic relations were severed in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution.”
“US Navy begins actively carrying out naval blockade on Iranian ports | LIVE BLOG,” i24, 4-12-26. “As the United States launches a naval blockade [15 ships] against Iran, the Israeli military has indicated it remains on “heightened alert” in the face of any developments.”