Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. would take action against every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran, and begin destroying mines that he said the Iranians had dropped in the strait, a choke point for about 20% of global energy supplies that Iran has blocked.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responded with a statement warning that military vessels approaching the strait will ​be considered a ceasefire breach and dealt with harshly and decisively, underlining the risk of a dangerous escalation.

“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 in his Truth Social ⁠post.

“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,” Trump added.

“Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” he added.

Six weeks of fighting has killed thousands, roiled the global economy and sent ​oil prices soaring as Iran prevented traffic through the strait.

MORE NEGOTIATIONS?

In an interview with Fox News after his post about the strait, Trump said that he believed Iran would continue to negotiate and called the weekend discussions “very friendly”.

“I do believe they’re going to come to the table on this, because nobody can be so stupid as to say, ‘We want nuclear weapons,’ and they have no cards,” Trump told Fox News from his golf course ​near Miami, Florida.

Trump also said that NATO allies, whom he has criticised for failing to back the war he launched along with Israel on February 28, wanted to help with the operation ​in the strait.

There was no immediate comment from Washington’s allies.

The weekend talks in Islamabad, which followed the announcement of a ceasefire last Tuesday, were the first direct U.S.-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the ‌highest-level discussions ⁠since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” said Vice President JD Vance, who headed the U.S. delegation.

A U.S. official said Iran had rejected Washington’s call for an end to all uranium enrichment, the dismantling of all major enrichment facilities and the transfer of highly enriched uranium.

The two sides also failed to reach agreement on the U.S. demand that Iran cease funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis as well as fully ​open the strait, the official added.

Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker ​Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who led his country’s ⁠delegation along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, blamed the U.S. for not winning Tehran’s trust, despite his team offering “forward-looking initiatives”.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who discussed the talks in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tehran wanted “a balanced and fair agreement”.

“If the United States returns to the framework ​of international law, reaching an agreement is not far off,” he told Putin, Iranian state media reported.

ISRAEL CONTINUES BOMBING LEBANON

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news ​agency said “excessive” U.S. demands had ⁠hindered reaching a deal.

Other Iranian media said there was agreement on a number of issues, but the strait and Iran’s nuclear programme were the main sticking points.

Despite the stalemate, three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, in what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the ceasefire deal.

Israel has continued bombing Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants in ⁠Lebanon, insisting – ​along with Washington – that that conflict was not part of the Iran-U.S. ceasefire.

Iran says the fighting in Lebanon must ​stop.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah rocket launchers overnight into Sunday and black smoke could be seen rising in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

And in Israeli villages near the border, air raid sirens sounded, warning of ​incoming rocket fire from Lebanon.

Source: Reuters

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Trump’s ​comments came hours after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on social media that unnamed countries had begun mediation efforts, briefly raising hopes of a resolution a week after the U.S. ‌and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” he added.

WAR SPREADING IN GULF, LEBANON

Trump has offered shifting explanations of his war aims, raising the possibility of an extended ​conflict that has already spilled well beyond Iran’s borders, shaken global financial markets and sent oil prices soaring.

Iran has responded by hitting Israel and multiple Gulf states that host U.S. military installations.

The U.S.-Israeli attacks have ​killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.

Iranian attacks have killed 11 people in Israel, and at least ⁠six U.S. service members have been killed.

Early on Saturday missiles were seen flying towards Israel as the Israeli military said it had identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel.

Explosions could be heard as Israeli defences activated ​to shoot down incoming Iranian fire.

Shortly after the barrage, the Israeli army said it had begun a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure in the capital Tehran.

Israel also attacked neighbouring Lebanon, where it said it was hitting Iranian ​and Hezbollah targets.

Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport was struck, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

There was no immediate comment from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

Landings resumed at Dubai International Airport, according to aviation-tracking website Flightradar24.

On Friday, Israel said 50 of its warplanes had hit a bunker in Iran still being used by its leadership beneath slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s destroyed Tehran compound.

Israel has expanded the war in Lebanon, pounding Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the capital’s entire ​southern suburbs.

Israel says its bombing in Lebanon aims to root out Hezbollah, the Shi’ite militia that has been a dominant faction in Lebanese politics since the 1980s.

Hezbollah fired on Israel this week to avenge the killing of ​Khamenei on the war’s first day.

“We’re sleeping here in the streets – some in cars, some on the street, some on the beach,” said Jamal Seifeddin, 43, who fled Beirut’s southern suburbs and spent the night on the streets in the downtown ‌district.

About 300,000 people ⁠have been displaced in Lebanon in the past four days, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people killed and 683 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks.

European and U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday, while oil prices hit multi-year highs, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut.

About one-fifth of global oil moves daily through the strait.

IRAN REJECTS TRUMP CALL FOR A SAY IN CHOOSING NEW LEADER

Washington will provide reinsurance for losses up to $20 billion in the Gulf region to bolster confidence for oil and gas shippers, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp has said.

Trump has said the U.S. Navy could escort ships in the Gulf.

But Iran’s Revolutionary Guards challenged ​him to do so, with spokesperson Alimohammad Naini saying ​Iran “welcomes” and is “awaiting” any U.S. presence in the strait, ⁠state media said.

Russia is providing Iran with locations of U.S. warships and aircraft in the Middle East after Iran’s ability to locate U.S. forces was degraded, the Washington Post reported, citing three officials familiar with the intelligence.

Russian missions in the U.S. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

Trump also reiterated his demand to have ​a say in selecting Iran’s new supreme leader, a notion rejected by Iravani.

The ambassador said new leadership would be selected “in accordance with our constitutional procedures and ​solely by the will of ⁠the Iranian people – without any foreign interference.”

Iran has described the conflict as an unprovoked attack and the killing of Khamenei as an assassination.

The Trump administration is pushing to shore up weapons stocks as the Iran operation draws down supplies.

The president met with executives from seven defence contractors on Friday, who he said had agreed to accelerate weapons production.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. had enough weapons for the Iran campaign, which she said would take about four to ⁠six weeks to ​complete.

The State Department on Friday approved $151.8 million in sales to Israel of munitions and support, skipping the usual congressional review.

Secretary of State ​Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required the immediate sale.

U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children on the first day of the war, two U.S. officials ​told Reuters.

The investigators have not yet reached a final conclusion.

Source: Reuters

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