Iran War Live Updates
" Trump says U.S. will 'blockade' Strait of Hormuz after peace talks fail."
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Content and Source: "The New York Times."
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/12/world/iran-war-trump-talks-pakistan?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20260412&instance_id=173961&nl=breaking-news®i_id=138220324&segment_id=218112&user_id=a139a08d5708e489f29dde97d70637ca
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Russ Roberts (https://trendsingeopolitics.blogspot.com).
Islamabad7:57 p.m. April 12
Beirut5:57 p.m. April 12
Iran War Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. Will ‘Blockade’ Strait of Hormuz After Peace Talks Fail
Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that marathon talks between the United States and Iran had failed to immediately produce a deal to fully reopen the strait and end the war. Iran’s top negotiator had suggested further talks were possible.
Tyler PagerAaron BoxermanIsabel Kershner and Katie Rogers
Tyler Pager reported from Islamabad, Pakistan.
President Trump said Sunday that the United States will enforce a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, stepping up pressure on Iran after marathon peace talks between top Iranian and American leaders in Pakistan ended without a breakthrough.
The announcement by Mr. Trump plunged the already brittle truce into further uncertainty. Vice President JD Vance and the chief Iranian negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, met in Pakistan over the weekend, but did not reach a deal to fully reopen the strait and end the war. A naval blockade could be considered an act of war by Iran.
Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned President Trump’s declared intention to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. “I don’t understand how blockading the strait is somehow going to push the Iranians into opening it,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I don’t see the connection there.”
Warner said that all U.S. intelligence he has seen shows that Iran’s current leaders are “even more radical” than their predecessors who were killed during the war.
Asked about the economy, President Trump said that oil and gas price increases have not been as bad as he expected before starting the war. Trump said he felt the U.S. economy was strong enough to withstand the effects of the war and said that he told his economic advisers, “I’m sorry fellas, we’re in great shape. We have to go and take a little journey to Iran and we have to stop them from having a nuclear weapon.” Asked if gas and oil prices might be lower by the midterm elections, Trump said prices “could be the same or maybe a little bit higher,” then started complaining again about the news media.
President Trump has spent much of his interview with Maria Bartiromo, the Fox News host, complaining about the news media’s coverage of the Iran war, calling coverage by The New York Times, CNN and other outlets “almost treasonous.”
Maria Bartiromo, the Fox News host, asked President Trump about a social media post last week in which he issued a stunning threat to wipe out the Iranian civilization. “I’m fine with it,” he said. “It brought them to the table.” Then he compared his post to the threats some Iranians have made about Americans. “They’re allowed to say ‘death to America, death to this,’” Trump said. “Let me tell you that statement got them to the bargaining table and they haven’t left.”
Trump said he predicts the U.S. will get “everything” it wants from Tehran in the future.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, President Trump said that negotiations between the U.S. and Iranians got to a “friendly” place but were ultimately scuttled by Tehran’s refusal to give up its nuclear program. He said that the United Kingdom and other countries will be sending vessels to the strait to remove mines that might have been placed in the water. Britain has not publicly confirmed that it is sending vessels to the strait, although it has previously offered to help clear mines.
The five-week war with Iran has cost Israel an estimated $11.5 billion dollars, the Israeli finance ministry said on Sunday, providing the first evaluation of the price tag Israelis will pay for the conflict. Most of the money — about $7.2 billion — went to fund military operations, such as munitions and paying the many reserve soldiers who were called up, the ministry said. The rest went to compensating people for damaged buildings, missed days of work, helping local governments provide better shelters, among other costs.
Sultan Al Jaber, the minister of industry and advanced technology for the United Arab Emirates and the managing director of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, said the Strait of Hormuz “has never been Iran’s to close or restrict.” He added in a social media post that the attempt to block shipping is not a regional issue, but a global threat “to the energy, food and health security of every nation.” It is a threat, he said, that the world cannot afford and must not allow.
Earlier Sunday, Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, wrote a defiant post on social media suggesting that Iran would not budge on its control of the Strait of Hormuz. He said “the key” to the crucial waterway “is firmly in our hands.”
A naval blockade is considered an act of war. The U.S. imposing a blockade in the strait and effectively policing vessels that may have paid a toll to pass through the waters would likely have serious implications for other countries that use the waterway.
President Trump accused the Iranians of “world extortion” for closing the strait, and said that the United States Navy would begin its own blockade of the route. His comments signaled an escalation in naval activity around the strait. He said that the Navy would begin stopping ships that had paid a toll to the Iranians for usage of the strait, and that the military would begin destroying underwater mines placed in the waters. “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” Trump said.
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