WASHINGTON — President Trump has announced an extensive blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, committing to counter what he described as Iran’s “world extortion.” He aims to prevent any vessels that pay tolls to the Iranian regime from passing through this vital oil passageway.

While Trump indicated that recent negotiations with Iran, which concluded on Saturday without reaching an agreement, were productive, he criticized Iran for its unwillingness to compromise on its nuclear program, which he labeled as “the only point that really mattered.”

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the finest in the world, will commence the blockade of any and all ships attempting to enter or exit the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump announced on Truth Social on Sunday.

He further stated, “Eventually, we aim to reach a situation where all ships are allowed to come and go freely, but Iran has obstructed this by suggesting, ‘There may be a mine out there somewhere,’ a threat that only they seem aware of.”

Trump condemned this as “world extortion” and emphasized, “Leaders of countries, particularly the United States of America, will never be extorted.”

He concluded by declaring, “No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.”

Over a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supply once traversed through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has used drones and missiles to deter oil vessels from traveling through the critical chokepoint.

Iran claims to have placed mines in the Strait but has lost track of them. It has attempted to charge a toll of $1 per barrel of oil for ships to get through safely, according to US officials. 

Iran has sought to use revenue from those tolls to rebuild its country after the Operation Epic Fury attacks. 

Trump announced a fragile two-week cease-fire with Iran last Tuesday after threatening earlier that day that “an entire civilization will die tonight” if Tehran didn’t cut a deal. 

US officials, led by Vice President JD Vance, meet with Iranian negotiators in Islamabad, Pakistan, for close to 21 hours of marathon talks to broker a more permanent end to the war. 

But by the end of those talks, Vance announced that “we have not reached an agreement,” and US officials left. Few details of those negotiations were made public, but Trump claimed that “most points were agreed to,” just not the nuclear issue.

“In many ways, the points that were agreed to are better than us continuing our Military Operations to conclusion, but all of those points don’t matter compared to allowing Nuclear Power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people,” Trump wrote in another Truth Social post. 

“That doesn’t matter because they were very unyielding as to the single most important issue.”

Trump also announced Sunday that the US will “begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits” and warned that any Iranian ship that fires at the US will be “BLOWN TO HELL.”

“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!”

This is a developing story. Please check back for more information.