Trump ‘is considering strikes on Iran’ after failed peace talks: LIVE

President Trump and his team are considering resuming limited military strikes inside Iran to break the deadlock on peace talks, the Washington Post has reported.

Members of the administration are said to be advocating a two-pronged approach of bombing in addition to the upcoming blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington looks to turn the screws on leaders in Tehran.

The option of another full bombing campaign is also thought to be on the table, but analysts have suggested it is unlikely given the backlash among many inside the MAGA camp to the idea of a prolonged military engagement – especially given the US midterms later this year.

Hours after the US-Iran talks in Islamabad failed, President Donald Trump has warned that US forces will immediately ‘begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz’.

The US President also said in his Truth Social post: ‘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.’

Israel’s finance ministry said in a preliminary estimate that the war with Iran has so far cost the nation around 35billion shekels (£8.6billion).

The country’s GDP has suffered as a result of the war, while a surge in government spending added to the large bill.

The largest portion came from the IDF, defence ministry, national security minstry and a range of intelligence organisations.

Officials also warned that the full financial impact of the war, which would include long-term reconstruction and economic recover costs, may not be realised for some time.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said this morning Australia had not received any request from the United States to help with its planned blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

‘They have done that in a unilateral way, and we haven’t been asked to participate. We’ve received no requests that we haven’t agreed to,’ Albanese told Channel Nine.

A former EU foreign policy chief has questioned whether anyone should expect a quick resolution to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Federica Mogherini, the bloc’s former top foreign policy official, wrote on X:

Oil prices have pushed up to over $100 per barrel once again after Donald Trump announced his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

In early market trading, the price of Brent crude – the international benchmark – rose 8% to $102.

US crude, meanwhile rose to $104.

Just this morning, Trump told Fox News: ‘We’re not going to let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like and not people that they don’t like, or whatever it is. It’s going to be all or none.’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has blamed the US for the collapse of peace talks after saying Washington had learnt ‘zero lessons’ from the war.

Araghchi, who holds a PhD in political thought from the University of Kent, took to social media on Sunday night to state the two sides were at one stage ‘just inches’ away from an agreement.

He claimed that Iran approached the talks in ‘good faith’ and accused the American negotiators of indulging in ‘maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade’.

‘Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity,’ Araghchi added.

Mohsen Rezaee,a former senior official in the IRGC and now a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, has claimed Tehran has ‘major untapped levers’ to counter the US’ forthcoming blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

He wrote on X:

America, just as it suffered a historic defeat against Iran in failing to open the Strait of Hormuz, is also doomed to failure in its maritime blockade.

Iran’s armed forces will not grant America such permission and possess major untapped levers for countering it. Iran is not a place to be blockaded with tweets and fanciful schemes!

In a post to X, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf – who was also the lead negotiator during the peace talks in Pakistan – mocked the US’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in a cryptic social media post.

He wrote: ‘Enjoy the current pump figures. With the so-called ‘blockade’, Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4–$5 gas.’

Ghalibaf also shared a screenshot of petrol stations around the White House, as well as a mathematical formula that appeared to signal that any increase in the severity of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would result in a compounding increase in oil prices.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said in the last few minutes that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will begin at 3pm UK time on April 13.

It said in an update shared on X that ‘all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports’ will be blocked on April 13 at 10am ET.

It added: ‘The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.’

The US army added: ‘CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.’