Trump Orders Immediate Naval Blockade of Strait of Hormuz After Peace Talks Fail

President Donald Trump announced an immediate naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on April 12, 2026, ordering the United States Navy to stop all ships entering or leaving the waterway and to interdict any vessel in international waters that had paid a transit toll to Iran. The announcement came hours after peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, collapsed without a deal following 21 hours of negotiations. Trump made the declaration on his Truth Social platform, stating that the blockade would begin with immediate effect. He also announced that US forces would begin destroying mines that Iran had laid in the strait, warning that any Iranian forces firing on American or civilian vessels would face retaliation.

„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” — Donald Trump via Reuters

Trump also addressed Iran's practice of charging ships a transit fee, calling it extortion. „This is extortion on a global level and the leaders of nations — especially those of the United States — will never let themselves be extorted” — Donald Trump via ANSA

He added on Truth Social that other countries would be involved in the blockade, without specifying which nations. „We are going to start blowing up the mines that the Iranians have laid in the Strait. Any Iranian that fires at us or at peaceful vessels will be blown up” — Donald Trump via ANSA

The Islamabad talks were described as the highest-level direct negotiations between the United States and Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and the first direct negotiations between the two sides since 2015, when an international nuclear agreement was concluded in Vienna. That agreement was designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. During Trump's first term, the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018, after which Iran no longer considered itself bound by its terms. The current US-Israel military campaign against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury, began on February 28, 2026, and resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the initial strikes.

Vance calls Iran's nuclear refusal the talks' breaking point US Vice President JD Vance led the American negotiating team in Islamabad and described the 21-hour session as producing "significant discussions" but ultimately no agreement. Vance said Tehran had been given one "last and best" offer and that the central obstacle was Iran's refusal to commit to renouncing nuclear weapons. He said he had spoken with Trump by phone multiple times during the negotiations. Trump, for his part, sought to minimize the significance of the failure, saying from Washington on Saturday that whether a deal was reached made "no difference" to him. According to Esmail Baghaei Hamaneh, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, the talks covered a range of issues including the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear question, war reparations, the lifting of sanctions, and an end to hostilities in the region. The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, who participated in the Islamabad negotiations, accused the United States of failing to provide confidence-building measures, writing on X that the Iranian delegation had presented "constructive proposals" but that US representatives had "failed to win the trust of the Iranian delegation."

„That is the good news. The bad news is that we did not reach an agreement” — JD Vance via newsORF.at

Revolutionary Guards claim full control, publish ships-in-crosshairs video The Iranian Revolutionary Guards responded to Trump's blockade announcement by declaring that Iranian security forces held full control of the Strait of Hormuz and warning that any miscalculation by an adversary would result in entrapment. The Guards' naval command published a Persian-language post on X accompanied by a video showing ships in the crosshairs of what appeared to be targeting equipment.

„All traffic is under the full control of the armed forces. The enemy will remain trapped in a deadly vortex in the Strait if it makes the wrong move” — Iranian Revolutionary Guards Naval Command via ANSA

Earlier, before Trump's blockade announcement, the Guards had already threatened to treat "severely" any military ship transiting the strait, declaring that passage would be "granted to civilian ships only under certain conditions." The US Central Command reported that two US Navy warships had already crossed the strait to conduct minesweeping operations before the blockade declaration was made.

Iran deploys special forces to southern coast, braces for ground threat Iranian state media reported that the country had deployed Navy special forces along its southern coast in response to what it characterized as preparations for a potential US land invasion, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited Iran's state news agency Student News Network. Images published by the agency showed soldiers in camouflage deployed near a sandy coastline, described as a measure to "counter any possible enemy infiltration into the country's territory." The United States had previously ordered the dispatch of thousands of Marines and paratroopers to the Middle East, with further deployments planned following a two-week ceasefire with Iran. Although Trump had not stated an intention to send ground troops, those deployments gave the United States additional options for ground operations, prompting Iran to strengthen air defenses, position mines, and construct bunkers on islands along its coast in recent weeks. The standoff in the strait carries significant implications for global energy markets, as the waterway serves as a critical transit route for a large share of the world's seaborne oil trade. Trump stated on Truth Social that the situation would eventually reach a point where "everyone is allowed to enter and everyone is allowed to exit," but blamed Iran for preventing that outcome.

21 (hours) — duration of failed US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad

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