US Targets Iranian Ports with Blockade After Peace Talks Fail

Washington- President Donald Trump said the US Navy would swiftly begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after US-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement.

US Central Command announced that it will blockade all Iranian ports beginning Monday at 10 am EDT or 5:30 pm in Iran.

CENTCOM said the blockade will be "enforced impartially against vessels of all nations." It said it would still allow ships travelling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier in the day, the United States and Iran ended 21 hours of face-to-face talks in Islamabad without reaching a deal, leaving the fate of the fragile, two-week ceasefire still unclear.

The war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets has entered its seventh week.

Here is the latest:

Trump says he doesn't care when Iran returns to negotiating table

Speaking to reporters outside Washington after flying back from Florida, Trump was asked how long it might be before Iranian officials returned to the negotiating table amid a fragile ceasefire.

"I don't care if they come back or not," he replied. "If they don't come back, I'm fine."

Trump said that during weekend negotiations led by US Vice President JD Vance, Iran said they were pushing for a nuclear weapon.

"They still want it, and they made that clear the other night. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon," he said.

Trump lambasts Pope Leo XIV, extending feud over Iran war

Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV on social media Sunday, saying the first American pope should "stop catering to the Radical Left".

It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader of the Catholic Church, exacerbating a feud that began over the war in Iran.

A short time later, speaking to reporters after Air Force One landed outside Washington from Florida, Trump said, "We don't like a pope who says it's OK to have a nuclear weapon."

"I don't think he's doing a very good job," Trump said, adding that "I'm not a fan of Pope Leo."

Trump's comments followed Leo having denounced over the weekend the "delusion of omnipotence" that is fuelling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

The US-born pope didn't mention the US or Trump by name in his prayer.

But Leo's tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

Ships have stopped moving through Strait of Hormuz: intel firm

Lloyd's List Intelligence wrote Sunday that "all traffic" through the Strait of Hormuz stopped after President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the US would blockade the waterway. It said two vessels that were leaving the strait turned around after the post.

A trickle of traffic had returned to the strait in the days since the US and Iran agreed to pause the conflict.

Planned US blockade isn't as sweeping as Trump vowed

The US military's logistical plans for blockading the Strait of Hormuz appeared to have been scaled down from the sweeping measures President Donald Trump had earlier threatened.

Trump originally wrote on Truth Social that the US would blockade "any and all" ships exiting or entering the Strait of Hormuz. The military, however, says it will still permit passage of ships headed between non-Iranian ports.

Iran keeping 21 million barrels of oil in floating storage

Samir Madani, the co-founder of Tankertrackers.com, told AP that the monitoring group used imagery from the European Space Agency's Copernicus-2 satellite to identify the types of Iranian oil tankers present in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.

They identified 10 "Very Large Crude Carrier" supertankers - which can hold 2 million barrels of oil each - and 1 Suezmax tanker - which holds 1 million barrels - in the Gulf of Oman as of Sunday, adding up to 21 million barrels.

Iran could be keeping the oil in floating storage to "better regulate exports amid turbulence" or in case of disturbances at Kharg Island, the group said on X.

Kharg Island, which the US struck during the war, is home to a terminal through which Iran exports most of its oil.

Iran's foreign minister claims US tanked productive talks

Writing on X, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had negotiated with the US in "good faith" for an end to the war.

"But when just inches away from "Islamabad MoU", we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade," he wrote, using an acronym for "memorandum of understanding."

He then echoed earlier threats from Iranian officials.

"Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity."

Lebanese Red Cross says Israeli drone strike hit their unit, killing paramedic

The Lebanese Red Cross said Sunday another paramedic was lightly wounded in the attack in the southern Lebanese town of Beit Yahoun.

At least 87 medical workers in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the beginning of the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, according to the country's health ministry.

Middle East security expert says Trump has little leverage in Hormuz

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in security studies at Kings College London, said Sunday that Trump's plan to use the US Navy to block the Strait of Hormuz is unrealistic.

"We should bear in mind that the Americans have a much lower threshold of pain than the Iranians," Krieg said. "The Iranians, whatever happens, can sustain this for far longer than the world economy, far longer the Gulf states, far longer then the Americans."

Krieg said Trump doesn't have "any good options" and that he will have to concede on some issues.

"There isn't any tool in the toolbox in terms of the military lever that he could use to get his way," he said.

Energy expert says oil price could jump by $10

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times. Brent for June delivery fell 0.8% to $95.20 per barrel Friday.

Michael Lynch, distinguished fellow at Energy Policy Research Foundation, estimates Trump's threatened blockade could boost oil prices $5 to $10 when the market opens on Monday.

The blockade would take an estimated 2 million barrels of oil per day off the market, and the Iran war has already taken roughly 10 million barrels per day out of supply, Lynch said.

"This is a pretty big insult to a pretty big injury, I guess, is the way to put it," he said.

But Lynch said the blockade might be short-lived as Trump will be pressured to walk it back.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see him to give it up by midweek, especially if oil prices keep going up," he said. (AP)