Donald Trump has announced the US military will form a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after failed peace talks with Iran, threatening action against ships that paid ‘illegal tolls’
Carrington Walker Live News Journalist and Olivia Bridge Reporter in Live News Network
18:40, 12 Apr 2026
Trump claimed the US was ‘locked and loaded'(Image: AP)
Donald Trump has declared the US will take control of the Strait of Hormuz situation by announcing American military forces will establish a ‘blockade’ of the crucial shipping route.
Following unsuccessful US-Iran peace negotiations in Pakistan on Saturday during a fragile ceasefire, tensions appear to be escalating once more as the president reveals the US Navy will “begin the process of blockading any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz” with operations commencing “shortly”.
Trump also indicated “other countries” would participate in the American blockade but stopped short of identifying which nations. The UK, however, will not take part in the blockade, according to the Press Association.
US President Donald Trump threatened ‘no one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas'(Image: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images))
He described the Islamabad negotiation meeting as having “went well” with “most points agreed to” – apart from the contentious matter of nuclear weapons. Trump has maintained Iran must not be allowed to possess or develop its nuclear arsenal.
Yet there remains the matter of the Strait, a waterway carrying 20% of globally traded oil which has been effectively shut down by Iran for weeks since hostilities began on February 28, sending fuel prices soaring worldwide, reports the Mirror.
“Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they knowingly failed to do so,” Trump added in his Truth Social post. “This caused anxiety, dislocation, and pain to many people and Countries throughout the World.
“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.
“At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, “There may be a mine out there somewhere,” that nobody knows about but them.
“THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted,” Trump said.
Throughout the weekend, scores of vessels successfully navigated through the Strait during a temporary lull for diplomatic discussions, accompanied by missile destroyers and mine sweepers deployed to remove sea mines that Iran had positioned along the waterway.
Escalating tensions further, the President declared that any vessel which has paid what he termed an ‘illegal toll’ to Iran would be denied safe passage, warning that American forces would intervene and any Iranian “or peaceful vessels” offering resistance “will be blown to hell”.
He continued: “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.
“We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!
“Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country.” Trump reinforced his assertion that Iran is ‘losing’ the conflict, once again claiming that the country’s armed forces have been ‘obliterated’. “Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khomeini, and most of their “Leaders,” are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition.
“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!”, he concluded.
