Washington enforces blockade of Hormuz

The United States ordered the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday after peace talks with Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to yield results.

"The United States to blockade ships entering or exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 am ET," President Donald Trump said in a social media post.

The US Central Command said in a statement that it would begin implementing the blockade "in accordance with the president's proclamation".

The blockade would be enforced impartially against vessels of all countries entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, it said.

US forces "will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports", it added.

According to the unified command of the Iranian armed forces, ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman are "either for everyone or for no one", Al Jazeera reported, citing the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

"Enemy-affiliated vessels" would not have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, while other vessels would be allowed passage, subject to regulations by Tehran, the Iranian statement was quoted as saying.

Washington's imposition of restrictions on the movement of vessels in international waters "is an illegal act and amounts to piracy", it added.

Despite the latest threat, Trump said the two-week ceasefire with Iran — due to run until April 22 — "is holding well", adding that he does "not care" whether Tehran returns to the negotiating table.

Rasha Al Joundy, a senior researcher at the Dubai Public Policy Research Centre, told China Daily that the US blockade serves two purposes. The first is exerting "tactical pressure" related to the negotiations that stalled after 21 hours, she said.

Second, Washington seeks to prevent Iran from attacking Gulf Cooperation Council countries, she added.

Abdolreza Alami, a senior lecturer at the faculty of communication and media studies at Universiti Teknologi Mara in Malaysia, said the US administration's simultaneous imposition of a naval blockade and assertion that the ceasefire is intact reflects a "fundamental contradiction".

'Act of coercion'

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a blockade constitutes "an act of coercion — incompatible with any active ceasefire", Alami said, calling the approach "a dual-audience strategy" that risks undermining the US' credibility.

"When Trump says he 'doesn't care' whether Iran returns to the table — that is precisely when you know he desperately needs it," he added.

"Tehran reads this immediately as a negotiating signal, not policy. Iran's strategic patience has outlasted far greater pressures. Time, in this configuration, favors Tehran."

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said intensive talks had been at their "highest level in 47 years" as Iran "engaged with the US in good faith to end war".

However, when "just inches away" from reaching a memorandum of understanding in Islamabad, "we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts and blockade", Araghchi said in a post on X, adding that goodwill begets goodwill while enmity begets enmity.

Meanwhile, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said last week that it welcomed the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran.

Following a second special meeting on the Middle East, ASEAN foreign ministers reaffirmed the importance of maintaining maritime safety and security, urging both sides "to continue negotiations that will lead to the permanent end of the conflict and lasting peace and stability in the region".

They also commended the efforts of Pakistan and other parties involved.

In a statement issued on Monday, the ministers called for the restoration of safe, unimpeded and continuous transit for vessels and aircraft through the Strait of Hormuz, in line with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

They also urged all parties to ensure the safety of seafarers and shipping in accordance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.

Alami from Malaysia said ASEAN's statement sends "a quiet but powerful" message that non-Western diplomatic channels must remain legitimate. "For Tehran, this is a ready-made multilateral shield," he said.

"On mediation, Pakistan and Oman hold the most credible back channels. Both are wounded but not finished. Qatar, Iraq, and ultimately China and Russia all have roles to play. The real danger is not war by design — it is miscalculation by accident," he added.

Belinda Robinson in New York contributed to this story.