US Central Command says it will begin a blockade of Iranian ports on Monday

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced he will visit regional neighbors in his efforts to secure fuel supplies threatened by the Iran war.

Albanese visited Singapore last week and said on Monday he would visit Brunei and Malaysia this week to “ensure Australia’s energy supply remains secure during times of uncertainty.”

The three Southeast Asian countries are major suppliers of Australia’s gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Singapore and Malaysia also buy Australian liquefied natural gas.

Albanese will meet Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in visits between Tuesday and Friday.

Albanese told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra on Monday he would not preempt outcomes of those meetings.

Speaking to reporters outside Washington after flying back from Florida, Trump was asked how long it might be before Iranian officials returned to the negotiating table amid a fragile ceasefire.

“I don’t care if they come back or not,” he replied. “If they don’t come back, I’m fine.”

Trump said that during weekend negotiations led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Iran said they were pushing for a nuclear weapon.

“They still want it, and they made that clear the other night. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV on social media Sunday, saying the first American pope should “stop catering to the Radical Left.”

It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader of the Catholic Church, exacerbating a feud that began over the war in Iran.

A short time later, speaking to reporters after Air Force One landed outside Washington from Florida, Trump said, “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.”

“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job,” Trump said, adding that “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”

Trump’s comments followed Leo having denounced over the weekend the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

The U.S.-born pope didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name in his prayer.

But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and U.S. officials, who have boasted of U.S. military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence wrote Sunday that “all traffic” through the Strait of Hormuz stopped after the president announced that the U.S. would blockade the waterway. It said two vessels that were leaving the strait turned around.

A trickle of traffic had returned to the strait in the days since the U.S. and Iran agreed to pause the conflict.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for the Strait of Hormuz to be open and said the United States had not requested Australian help to blockade it.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy would swiftly begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement.

Albanese told Nine Network television on Monday: “We’ve received no requests, and they’ve made this announcement overnight and they’ve done that in a unilateral way. And we haven’t been asked to participate.”

“What we want to see is negotiations continue and resume. We want to see an end to this conflict. We want to see the Strait of Hormuz opened for all. We want to see freedom of navigation as required by international law as well,” Albanese added.

The military’s logistical plans for blockading the Strait of Hormuz appeared to have been scaled down from the sweeping measures the president had earlier threatened.

Trump originally wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. would blockade “any and all” ships exiting or entering the Strait of Hormuz. The military, however, says it will still permit passage of ships headed between non-Iranian ports.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser and a former Revolutionary Guard Commander, joined the chorus of Iranian officials vowing to counter the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on X, Rezaei said the country’s armed forces had “major untouched levers” to counter a Hormuz blockade. He said Iran would not be coerced by “tweets and imaginary plans.”

Samir Madani, the co-founder of Tankertrackers.com, told AP that the monitoring group used imagery from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus-2 satellite to identify the types of Iranian oil tankers present in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.

They identified 10 “Very Large Crude Carrier” supertankers - which can hold 2 million barrels of oil each - and 1 Suezmax tanker, which holds 1 million barrels, in the Gulf of Oman as of Sunday, adding up to 21 million barrels.

Iran could be keeping the oil in floating storage to “better regulate exports amid turbulence” or in case of disturbances at Kharg Island, the group said on X.

Kharg island, which the U.S. struck during the war, is home to a terminal through which Iran exports most of its oil.

Oil prices rose in early market trading on Sunday after the U.S. said it would blockade Iranian ports beginning Monday.

The price of U.S. crude oil rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel and Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7% to $102.29.

Brent crude has swung dramatically during the Iran war, rising from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times. On Friday, ahead of the peace talks, Brent for June delivery fell 0.8% to $95.20 per barrel.

Writing on X, Abbas Araghchi said Iran had negotiated with the U.S. in “good faith” for an end to the war.

“But when just inches away from “Islamabad MoU”, we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade,” he wrote, using an acronym for “memorandum of understanding.”

He then echoed earlier threats from Iranian officials.

“Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity.”

Artillery fired by Hezbollah injured the soldiers Sunday afternoon, the military said. Both were evacuated to the hospital.

U.S. Central Command has announced that it will begin a blockade of Iranian ports on Monday at 10 a.m. ET.

CENTCOM said the blockade would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations” entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.

It said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

In its statement, CENTCOM said the blockade would include all Iranian ports. It said it would give more information to commercial vessels before the start of the blockade.

The Lebanese Red Cross said Sunday another paramedic was lightly wounded in the attack in the southern Lebanese town of Beit Yahoun.

At least 87 medical workers in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the beginning of the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, according to the country’s health ministry.

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in security studies at Kings College London, said Sunday that Trump’s plan to use the U.S. Navy to block the Strait of Hormuz is unrealistic.

“We should bear in mind that the Americans have a much lower threshold of pain than the Iranians,” Krieg said. “The Iranians, whatever happens, can sustain this for far longer than the world economy, far longer the Gulf states, far longer then the Americans.”

Krieg said Trump doesn’t have “any good options” and that he will have to concede on some issues.

“There isn’t any tool in the toolbox in terms of the military lever that he could use to get his way,” he said.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times. Brent for June delivery fell 0.8% to $95.20 per barrel Friday.

Michael Lynch, distinguished fellow at Energy Policy Research Foundation, estimates Trump’s threatened blockade could boost oil prices $5 to $10 when the market opens on Monday.

The blockade would take an estimated 2 million barrels of oil per day off the market, and the Iran war has already taken roughly 10 million barrels per day out of supply, Lynch said.

“This is a pretty big insult to a pretty big injury, I guess, is the way to put it,” he said.

But Lynch said the blockade might be short lived as Trump will be pressured to walk it back.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him to give it up by midweek, especially if oil prices keep going up,” he said.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf told reporters Sunday that Iran has shown it doesn’t surrender to threats, hours after Trump said the U.S. would impose a blockade to stop ships from entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz.

“If you fight, we will fight.” Qalibaf said in a social media post addressing Trump.

Qalibaf said the talks in Pakistan were “intensive, serious and challenging,” and that Iran’s negotiators “designed strong initiatives to demonstrate Iran’s goodwill, which led to progress.”

He did not describe the progress made during the talks nor Iran’s strong initiatives.

Nawaf Salam made his remarks on the eve of the 51st anniversary of the start of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war.

Lebanon and Israel will hold direct talks in Washington starting Tuesday in a bid to end Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.

Hezbollah supporters and critics of the decision to negotiate have protested in Beirut, saying the government is too weak to end the war.

The government has set a truce as a prerequisite for talks, and plans to demand an Israeli withdrawal, the release of Lebanese prisoners, and the return of over one million displaced Lebanese.

Lebanese authorities have criticized Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion, but have also decried Hezbollah for launching rockets on March 2nd in solidarity with Iran, sparking the latest escalation.

The Lebanese government came to power just over a year ago promising to disarm all non-state groups.

“I feel the pain of the mother who lost her son combatting on the frontlines as I feel the pain of the mother who lost her child who did not choose this war and only wanted to live,” said Salam.

Kevin Book, the managing director of research at research firm ClearView Energy Partners, said Sunday that leaner volumes generally mean tighter markets and higher prices, but “much depends on the scope and implementation of the blockade.”

“How Tehran responds matters, too. Iranian and/or Houthi reprisals against Gulf producers’ alternative routes could drive prices still higher,” Book said.

Jonathan Elkind, senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University said Trump’s statement on Fox News that implementing the blockade will take some time also adds uncertainty.

“Is this a climb down because of concerns about how sharply oil markets were set to rise in tomorrow’s trading? No one knows,” he said.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s goal in the talks with Iran was to outline America’s red lines and where there was room to negotiate. But Iran’s delegates could not agree to all of the stated red lines.

That’s according to a U.S. official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe negotiating positions on the record.

The core objective for U.S. negotiators was that Iran never obtain a nuclear weapon. But there were additional red lines set by the U.S. that Iran objected to, the official said.

The red lines include Iran ending uranium enrichment, dismantling its major enrichment facilities, allowing retrieval of its highly enriched uranium, ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, creating a broader framework for peace and security in the region, and opening the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. believes that blockading the strait will show Iran the limits of its leverage as it considers the offer, the official said.

Israel’s prime minister was making his first visit since the start of the current round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

“One of the things we see here is that we have essentially changed the face of the Middle East,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “Our enemies — Iran and the Axis of Evil — they came to destroy us, and now they are simply fighting for their own survival.”

Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel was working to control an 8 to 10 km (5 to 6 mile) buffer zone inside Lebanon to ensure Hezbollah does not fire close-range rockets and anti-tank missiles over the border.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy said Sunday that military vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz “will be met with a firm and forceful response,” according to two semi-official Iranian news agencies.

Earlier Sunday, Trump said the U.S. Navy would begin a blockade on the critical waterway to stop ships from entering or leaving.

The talks in Pakistan between Iran and the U.S. ended Sunday without an agreement to end the fighting.

The mission, known as UNIFIL, said Israeli ground troops twice rammed their vehicles with a Merkava tank on Sunday.

The soldiers were blocking a road in Bayada that peacekeepers have been using to access their positions, UNIFIL said in a statement.

UNIFIL has decried attacks on its personnel and damage to its facilities since
the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah militants started on March 2. Three peacekeepers have been killed in the past month.

“Israeli soldiers have continually blocked peacekeepers’ movements on this road in recent days, in addition to denials of freedom of movement recorded in other areas,” UNIFIL said. “They hinder peacekeepers’ ability to report violations by both sides on the ground.”

Britain’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about Trump’s assertion Sunday on Fox News.

In an April 2 meeting of top diplomats from 40 nations, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper discussed mustering their collective powers to remove mines from strait once the conflict diminished.

Cooper convened a meeting with about 30 of those nations last week to discuss restoring free movement in the shipping channel and a follow-up is scheduled this week.

In March, James Cartlidge, the opposition Conservative Party’s defense secretary, said the British Navy removed its last minesweeper from the Persian Gulf a week before the war began.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry submitted a “protest note” Sunday to the Iraqi ambassador following what it called ongoing drone attacks launched from Iraqi territories against Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf States.

It was not immediately clear if the Iraqi drone attacks are still taking place.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, said last week that it would halt its operations in Iraq and the region for two weeks, hours after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.

Iran-backed militias in Iraq have claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks on U.S. bases and other facilities in the country in solidarity with Tehran since the war began.

President Masoud Pezeshkian told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that his country is prepared to reach a deal that would ensure “lasting regional peace.”

Pezeshkian added that Iran’s national interests are a red line, according to a readout of the call carried by Iran’s state-media.

He criticized the U.S. use of bases in Gulf countries to carry out strikes against Iran, while maintaining that Gulf countries are “brothers” and that Tehran is willing to cooperate with them to achieve regional security “without outside powers”

Iran has said it has repeatedly struck U.S. facilities in neighboring Gulf countries since the war started in late February. Gulf countries say Iran has also targeted civilian infrastructure and facilities.

In the call with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty affirmed “the importance of adhering to the diplomatic path and prioritizing dialogue and peaceful solutions” to settle all disputes.

Abdelatty and his Pakistani counterpart, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, affirmed that they will continue their efforts to de-escalate and bridge the gaps between the U.S. and Iran.

Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey have been mediating between the U.S. and Iran since the start of the war.

Israel’s Ministry of Finance released its initial estimate of the cost of the Iran war on Sunday.

Some NIS 22 billion ($7.25 billion) has been spent on defense and military costs, including equipment and mobilizing more than 100,000 reserve soldiers, the ministry said.

Another NIS 12 billion ($4 billion) accounts for damages incurred by businesses and individuals from missiles or other related war losses, including missed days of work.

The ministry noted that some of the costs — including economic losses stemming from the war’s 40-day closure of the airports and many businesses — will only become apparent in the future.

At the height of its war with Gaza, Israel spent an estimated NIS 14 billion ($4.7 billion) per month on its military, more than double its monthly budget before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Among the dead are 252 women, 165 children, and 87 medical workers, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in its daily casualty count.

6,588 others have been wounded.

The U.S. president said his threat to impose 50% tariffs on goods from countries that sold weapons to Iran was aimed at China.

Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that has heard reports of China giving anti-aircraft “shoulder missiles” to Iran. He played down the possibility of China supplying weapons to Iran, but said their goods would be taxed if they did.

“I doubt they would do that, because I have a relationship, and I think they wouldn’t do that, but maybe they did a little bit at the beginning,” Trump said. “But if we catch them doing that, they get a 50% tariff.”

Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

He told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that his threat brought Iran to the negotiating table. He also said the Islamic Republic has made worse statements, such as “Death to America. Death to Israel. America is a Satan.”

Trump issued new warnings to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure if its leaders don’t agree to give up its nuclear program.

“In one half of a day they wouldn’t have one bridge standing, they wouldn’t have one electric generating plant standing and they’re back in the stone ages,” Trump said.

“I don’t understand how blockading the strait is going to somehow push the Iranians into opening it. I don’t get the connection there,” Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Warner, the vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said he didn’t see “how blockading the strait gets it open suddenly, I don’t get that logic.”

Authorities on Sunday removed the barricades, shipping containers and roadside checkpoints that had been in place since before the rare face-to-face talks.

The normally bustling city had taken on a near-curfew-like atmosphere after the government announced two holidays for security reasons. Roads in the capital were largely deserted for days and even ambulances were forced to take longer routes.

The incident happened 54 nautical miles (62 miles) southwest of the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said. UKMTO is part of the Royal Navy.

It said the skiff was turned away after the vessel’s master deployed a flare. The UKMTO report did not specify the nature or country of origin of the vessel that was approached.

Hodeida is controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Defending his planned blockade, the U.S. president said Sunday that Iran cannot control which ships go through the Strait of Hormuz, declaring that either every ship should have safe passage or none would.

“We’re not going to let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“It’s going to be all or none and that’s the way it is,” the president said.

The blockade will be similar to what the U.S. did with Venezuela, though on a larger scale, Trump said, suggesting that more tankers would come to the U.S. to buy oil as a result of the blockade.

The 21 hours of talks in Islamabad were a positive first step, even though they ended without a formal agreement, according to two officials familiar with the process. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

They cautioned against viewing the outcome as a failure, describing diplomacy as a gradual process.

The dialogue “reopened the diplomatic channel,” they said.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Asim Malik and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir facilitated the talks to keep them on track, the officials said.

Munir held multiple meetings with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and the Iranian delegation aimed at easing more than six weeks of regional tensions.

“Pakistan fulfilled its role by facilitating contact,” one official said, adding that responsibility for any final agreement rests with Washington and Tehran.

''The EU remains convinced that diplomacy is key to resolve all outstanding issues,’' the 27-nation bloc’s foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said in a statement to AP on Sunday.

''The European Union will contribute to all diplomatic efforts, taking into consideration its full range of interests and concerns, in coordination with partners.’'

He commended Pakistan for its mediation efforts.

European countries were not consulted on the U.S.-Israeli plans to attack Iran, and are struggling with surging energy prices and other consequences of the war. Britain and France are leading talks toward a coalition that would secure the Strait of Hormuz, after active fighting is over.

The Pakistan government statement Sunday came hours after U.S. Vice President JD Vance left to return to Washington.

The Iranian delegation included Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi saw off the delegation at the airport amid tight security, the statement said.

Badr Al-Busaidi said the two nations must continue negotiations after their latest round in Islamabad failed to produce a deal.

“I urge that the ceasefire be extended and talks continue,” the foreign minister wrote in a social media post.

He called for both parties to “make painful concessions,” saying that “this is nothing as compared to the pain of failure and war.”

The U.S. president posted Sunday on social media that the blockade would stop vessels from entering or leaving the strait.

After U.S. officials ended peace talks with Iran in Pakistan, Trump sought to exert more strategic control over the waterway responsible for the transportation of 20% of global oil supplies — hoping to take away Iran’s key source of economic leverage in the war.

“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,” Trump posted.

The president added that he has “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.”

The U.S. president posted Sunday on social media that the blockade would stop vessels from entering or leaving the strait.

After U.S. officials ended peace talks with Iran in Pakistan, Trump sought to exert more strategic control over the waterway responsible for the transportation of 20% of global oil supplies — hoping to take away Iran’s key source of economic leverage in the war.

Trump stressed that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are at the core of the failure to end the war and that the U.S. is prepared to finish the war.

“(A)t an appropriate moment, we are fully ‘LOCKED AND LOADED,’ and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!” Trump posted.

The head of Abu Dhabi’s state oil company reinforced a broad consensus in Gulf Arab states on Sunday, saying Iran has no right to close the Strait of Hormuz after negotiations in Pakistan failed to secure an agreement to reopen it.

Sultan Al Jaber posted on X that “any attempt to do so is not a regional issue; it is the disruption of a global economic lifeline and a direct threat to the energy, food and health security of every nation.”

He called it a dangerous precedent.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, known as ADNOC, is among the oil exporters that has been hit hard by the war. It declared force majeure in March, telling buyers the company couldn’t fulfill its obligations. Oil and gas make up 15% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross domestic product.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed the latest developments in the Middle East in a phone call Sunday, the Kremlin said.

Pezeshkian briefed Putin on the U.S.-Iran talks held in Pakistan and thanked Moscow for its position “aimed at de-escalating the situation,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

It also said Putin had “emphasized his readiness” to help bring about a diplomatic settlement to the hostilities and “establish a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

In response to comments from U.S. officials that the talks in Islamabad collapsed over Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning a path to a nuclear weapon, the official said: ''It is false. Iran’s position is clear. Iran is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but it has the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. This right is undeniable and must be recognized.’'

However, Iran is ready to limit its nuclear activities as part of confidence-building measures, the official said, including enrichment levels.

He did not elaborate on why exactly the talks failed and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the closed-door discussions.

Ali Vaez, Iran Project Director at International Crisis Group, argued that the failure of the US and Iran failure to reach a deal in Pakistan is unlikely to lead to an immediate resumption of war in the Middle East.

“The likelier scenario is not immediate war, but a volatile period of pressure, signaling, and last-minute attempts to prevent a wider conflagration,” he said.

A “three-track scramble” would likely follow the 21-hour talks, including more back-channel mediation efforts led by Pakistan, Vaez said.

He also expects more military maneuvers around the Strait of Hormuz, as well as additional efforts to keep in place the two-week pause in fighting.

Across the central Beirut neighborhoods attacked last week in Israel’s deadly bombardment of the city, Orthodox Christians in Lebanon found themselves grasping for solace in their faith and beloved Easter rituals.

Many worshippers said they were still reeling from Wednesday’s Israeli airstrikes, which hit areas of Beirut previously considered safe and killed more than 350 people while wounding over 1,100 others.

“What happened was a crime,” said Ghada Chabo Markossian from Easter services at her Syriac Orthodox church in Msaitbeh, one of several residential neighborhoods devastated in the attack.

“God willing, during this feast, the Lord will set right … these evil things that are happening.”