The United States military announced it will impose a full naval blockade on all Iranian ports beginning Monday, April 13, hours after marathon peace talks in Islamabad collapsed without agreement and President Donald Trump threatened further military escalation. The move marks one of the most significant escalations in the ongoing US-Iran conflict, which began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) — the American military command responsible for the Middle East region — stated that the blockade would cover all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, targeting commercial vessels of all nationalities entering or departing Iranian coastal areas. CENTCOM stressed, however, that it would not impede freedom of navigation for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports, in an apparent effort to limit disruption to broader global trade. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints, through which roughly one fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passed in peacetime. Iran had already effectively blocked the strait since the conflict began, contributing to a global fuel crisis.

The blockade announcement came directly after talks in Islamabad ended without a deal on Saturday and Sunday. The negotiations — the first direct, high-level US-Iran discussions in more than 47 years — were mediated by Pakistan, with Vice President JD Vance leading the American delegation and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf heading Tehran's side. The two delegations met across multiple sessions lasting at least 20 hours, exchanging written proposals — a 15-point American plan against a 10-point Iranian counterproposal. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the two sides reached understanding on several issues but remained far apart on two or three crucial matters. Trump acknowledged progress on