President Donald Trump said on the 12th (local time) that the U.S. Navy — the world’s most powerful — will immediately begin interdicting all ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz.
The move appears aimed at cutting off Iran’s oil export routes by bringing U.S. control to the Strait of Hormuz after talks with Tehran collapsed.
On the same day, Trump posted on his Truth Social account: “Negotiations went well and most issues were agreed on, but the one truly important issue — the nuclear one — was not.”
He added that while the goal is eventually to “allow the entry and exit of all ships,” Iran has blocked that outcome with a single, unverified claim — “there might be mines somewhere” — a statement only Tehran can substantiate.
“This is extortion of the world,” he said, emphasizing that leaders everywhere, and especially the United States, “will never be extorted.”
Trump said he has ordered the Navy to locate and intercept on the high seas any vessel that paid tolls to Iran, warning that anyone who paid illegal transit fees “will not sail safely on the high seas.”
